State to probe claims Mossad chief received gifts from Packer

A top security official who later became the head of the Mossad intelligence agency received expensive tickets to a Mariah Carey concert from her then-fiance, billionaire Australian businessman James Packer, Channel 10 reported Tuesday.

Packer has emerged as a key figure in ongoing corruption investigations into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Arnon Milchan, a Hollywood producer who also figures prominently in the investigations of Netanyahu, and Packer are friends and have mutual business interests. The Haaretz daily reported that in 2015 Milchan and Packer tried wooing Cohen to join a global security firm called Blue Sky International, which was started by Milchan in 2008. The businessmen wanted Cohen to take up a partnership in a cybersecurity project. At the time, Cohen was head of the National Security Council and in December 2015 Netanyahu selected him to lead the Mossad, putting the kibosh on Milchan and Packer’s offer.

The development in Cohen’s case came after the Civil Service Commission in December began looking into reports that months before he took up the position as director of Israel’s spy agency, he had received from Packer tickets worth thousands of shekels to attend a Carey concert in central Israel in August 2015....

http://www.timesofisrael.com/state-to-look-into-claims-mossad-chief-received-gifts-from-packer/

A Frightening Look at Government Incompetence, Dishonesty and Repression...

Global Structure of Ownership. Result of a 4 year long research

Some time ago I posted an article about methods used by banks to influence and govern the world. Some of you may have put that between conspiracy theories. For proving my point I got my hands on very interesting report. “The Network of Global Corporate Control”. Prepared by Swiss organisation lead by James Glattfelder and Stefano Battistona. Since 2007 till 2011 they investigated capital connections from 43 thousand global corporations. Below I present their results.

From over 30 million companies found in the Orbis database they chose 43,060 supranational corporations from 116 countries. From these 40 thousand over 5 thousand operate in global stock exchanges.

Over 600,000 analysed nodes link production, trade, managerial and ownership networks. For instance, the Coca-Cola Company is a parent of a Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling which in turn owns shares in a Coca-Cola Beverages Austria. This example is a simplification. In most of the cases it looks like this:..

http://independenttrader.org/global-structure-of-ownership-result-of-4-year-long-research.html

The Shocking Scandals, Corruption, and Abuse of Power Behind the Scenes ...

Lloyd Blankfein Question at FCIC Hearing 1/13/2010.mov

Corruption is Legal in America

Critics want public hearings into Canada Revenue amnesty for KPMG offshore tax dodgers

The federal government should call public hearings into why the Canada Revenue Agency offered amnesty to the high net worth clients of KPMG who were involved in an offshore tax avoidance scheme, prominent tax groups, politicians and other legal experts said in the wake of a CBC News/Radio-Canada exposé.

In fact, Laval University tax professor Andre Lareau says the new revenue minister, Diane Lebouthillier, should undo the deal as soon as possible.

"The offer should just be withdrawn right now," Lareau said. In effect, he says, the CRA is saying to these wealthy clients "we're giving you absolution."

In question period yesterday, NDP leader Tom Mulcair called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to launch a probe into the secret offer.

"Stop protecting the rich, start protecting a tax system that's fair for all," Mulcair said. "How many other times has this happened, and is the prime minister going to call an investigation?"...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/public-hearings-cra-kpmg-offshore-tax-deal-1.3481677

Cherie Blair law firm linked to suspected terrorist & controversial regime

Cherie Blair could face a corruption probe after an investigation uncovered suspicious financial links between her law firm and the autocratic Maldives President Abdulla Yameen, as well as an arms trafficker wanted for terrorism.

Omina Strategy, the law firm founded by former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair’s wife, earned more than £2,000 (US$2,850) a day working for Yameen in various capacities, including managing his administration’s PR.

The firm claims it was hired to help “improve transparency and accountability” in the country, where Yameen imprisoned more than 1,700 opposition activists during a state of emergency last November.

But secret documents obtained by the Daily Mail indicate the firm was hired to advise on “strategic diplomacy, media training, [and] international media relations” and to handle PR during the government’s legal battle with former president Mohamed Nasheed, who claims he was ousted from office by force in 2012.

Nasheed, who was represented in court by Amal Clooney, was later jailed for 13 years after a trial described by Amnesty International as a “sham.”

According to the investigation, Cherie Blair’s company was paid more £420,000 for six months’ work, £210,000 of which was paid by Mohamed Allam Latheef – a man now wanted by Interpol on charges of arms trafficking and terrorism.

Omina Strategy was also involved in financial transactions with Adbullah Ziyath, the former head of state-run Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), who is now suspected of colluding with Latheef and is on trial for allegedly masterminding the embezzlement of more than £50 million from the government.

The Daily Mail quoted lawyers representing victims of the regime who have called for Blair’s relationship with the Maldivian leader to be investigated.


https://www.rt.com/uk/332891-cherie-blair-maldives-corruption/

Treasury officials wined & dined by arms giants & ‘rogue banks’

Treasury officials regularly accepted invitations to lavish dinners with lobbyists for banks that were being investigated for market rigging, a new report has found.

The explosive research, which was conducted by the National Audit Office (NAO), was published on Tuesday.

It reveals that banking lobby the British Bankers’ Association was a frequent provider of hospitality to senior Treasury officials, despite the fact some of its members were being investigated by UK authorities for market rigging.

Arms manufacturer BAE Systems and auditing giants Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) were also frequent providers of gifts and hospitality. Because each of these organizations supply services to government, the NAO said such patterns of gift giving could create conflicts of interest...

https://www.rt.com/uk/331850-state-officials-gifts-hospitality/

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH AFGHANISTAN RECONSTRUCTION WATCHDOG

An ineffective $8 billion counternarcotics effort, $500 million worth of cargo planes that had to be turned into scrap metal and a $30 million program to grow crops that nobody wants — those are just some of the examples of how US funds have been wasted in Afghanistan.

While taxpayers have every right to be upset about how their money has been squandered, they might feel even more strongly about the lack of consequences for those who spend it so unwisely.

“We don’t hold people accountable for losing and wasting taxpayer money,” John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), told WhoWhatWhy in an exclusive interview.

“People have got to be fired, people have got to lose promotions, people have got to be demoted. And only when that happens will we start to see really significant changes with protecting the taxpayer’s dollar.”

The special inspector general says his team is doing all it can in a difficult environment. Its criminal investigators have recovered nearly $1 billion in fines and restitution. Although dozens of people have been indicted when crimes were committed, Sopko noted that most of the problems he and his team encounter are not related to theft.

“It isn’t criminality,” he said “It’s just waste and abuse.”

And in those cases, despite the vast sums involved, not much is happening with regard to personal responsibility...

http://whowhatwhy.org/2015/10/29/exclusive-interview-with-afghanistan-reconstruction-czar/

The military paid pro sports teams $10.4 million for patriotic displays, troop tributes

Teams in the five major American sports leagues have taken in more than $10 million in marketing deals with the military since 2012, but the Department of Defense (DOD) can't account for all of the contracts, much less the money.

The fact that teams like the New York Jets had taken military money to honor hometown troops was revealed this spring, but a report released Wednesday shows that the spending was much larger and much more widespread than originally believed.

In all, the DOD spent $10.4 million on marketing contracts with teams in the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and MLS. This does not count sponsorships in NASCAR, which could total as much as $100 million.
DOD can't account for much of the money they've spent.

Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake, both Republicans from Arizona, conducted the study, and were concerned by the that that the DOD could not account for large chunks of the money it spent.

Over the course of the effort, we discovered the startling fact that DOD cannot accurately account for how many contracts it has awarded or how much has been spent; its official response to our request only accounted for 62 percent of its 122 contracts with the major league teams that we were able to uncover and 70 percent of the more than $10 million it actually spent on these contracts... 
http://www.sbnation.com/2015/11/4/9670302/nfl-paid-patriotism-troops-mcain-flake-report-million

Goldman Sachs To Pay $50 Million Fine, Admit Failure To Supervise Over Fed Breach

Goldman Sachs Group GS -1.06% is set to pay a $50 million fine and admit to failure to supervise for banking law violations after an associate at the investment bank, Rohit Bansal, used his contacts at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, his previous employer, to gain confidential regulatory information he then used when advising clients.

The fine, administered by the New York Department of Financial Services, requires that Goldman admit it failed to supervise Bansal. It further calls for Goldman to accept a three-year voluntary abstention from accepting new consulting engagements that require the Department to authorize the disclosure of confidential information under New York banking laws. Goldman also has pledged to implement new compliance procedures with employees who previously worked in government and regulatory roles.

“We are pleased that Goldman Sachs has decided to resolve this matter and work with us to institute reforms that help prevent similar problems from occurring in the future,” Acting Superintendent Anthony J. Albanese said in a statement.

“This case underscores the critical need for financial institutions to put in place strong controls and policies for employee conflicts screening and the use of confidential regulatory information,” he added.

Bansal, who was hired by Goldman in July 2014 after a near seven-year stint at the New York Fed, joined the financial institutions group within the firm’s investment banking division. The issues settled on Wednesday stem from Bansal’s initial work at Goldman.

In May, prior to his start date, the New York Fed restricted Bansal from consulting for a unnamed financial institution until February 2015. However, the NYDFS says in its settlement he began working with that entity upon his start date in mid-2014.

That quickly created problems.

In his brief spell with Goldman, Bansal, who goes unnamed in the NYFDS settlement but has plead guilty to leaking confidential documents, is alleged to have obtained about 35 confidential documents on 20 occasions from a former co-worker at the New York Fed. Those documents, the settlement shows, helped Goldman advise unnamed clients on regulatory matters such as capital ratios. The leaks appear to have occurred in August and September 2014.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2015/10/28/goldman-sachs-to-pay-50-million-fine-admit-failure-to-supervise-over-fed-breach/

The Money Changers Serenade: A New Plot Hatches

Former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, a protege of Treasury Secretaries Rubin and Summers, has received his reward for continuing the Rubin-Summers-Paulson policy of supporting the “banks too big to fail” at the expense of the economy and American people. For his service to the handful of gigantic banks, whose existence attests to the fact that the Anti-Trust Act is a dead-letter law, Geithner has been appointed president and managing director of the private equity firm, Warburg Pincus and is on his way to his fortune.

A Warburg in-law financed Woodrow Wilson’s presidential campaign. Part of the reward was Wilson’s appointment of Paul Warburg to the first Federal Reserve Board. The symbiotic relationship between presidents and bankers has continued ever since. The same small clique continues to wield financial power.

Geithner’s career is illustrative. In the 1980s, Geithner worked for Kissinger Associates. In the mid to late 1990s, Geithner served as a deputy assistant Treasury secretary. Under Rubin and Summers he moved up to undersecretary of the Treasury...

http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2013/11/29/money-changers-serenade-new-plot-hatches-paul-craig-roberts/

“Everyone is corrupt, I’ve come to learn”

John Kiriakou, the former CIA officer who blew the whistle on Bush’s torture program and is now in prison, sent an open letter to Edward Snowden last week warning him not to trust the FBI.

“DO NOT,” Kiriakou wrote, “under any circumstances, cooperate with the FBI. FBI agents will lie, trick, and deceive you. They will twist your words and play on your patriotism to entrap you. They will pretend to be people they are not – supporters, well-wishers, and friends – all the while wearing wires to record your out-of-context statements to use against you. The FBI is the enemy; it’s part of the problem, not the solution.”

These are the words of a registered Republican who voted for Gary Johnson, whom the Rosenberg Fund for Children denied a grant, informing him that he wasn’t “liberal enough,” Kiriakou says, for the award — and who last year received a birthday card from Jerry Falwell Jr...

http://www.salon.com/2013/07/11/“everyone_is_corrupt_ive_come_to_learn”/

US judge receives 28-year jail term for his role in kids-for-cash kickbacks

An American judge known for his harsh and autocratic courtroom manner was jailed for 28 years for conspiring with private prisons to hand young offenders maximum sentences in return for kickbacks amounting to millions of dollars.

Mark Ciavarella Jnr was ordered to pay $1.2m (£770,000) in restitution after he was found to be a “figurehead” in the conspiracy that saw thousands of children unjustly punished in the name of profit in the case that became known as “kids for cash”.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has overturned some 4,000 convictions issued by the former Luzerne County judge between 2003 and 2008, claiming he violated the constitutional rights of the juveniles – including the right to legal counsel and the right to intelligently enter a plea. Ciavarella Jnr, 61, was tried and convicted of racketeering charges earlier this year but his lawyers had asked for a “reasonable” sentence, claiming that he had already been punished enough...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-judge-receives-28year-jail-term-for-his-role-in--kidsforcash-kickbacks-8598147.html

Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney Exposes Corruption

LIBOR Banking Scandal Deepens; Barclays Releases Damning Email, Implicates British Government | Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone

This Libor-manipulation story grows crazier with each passing minute. We have officially disappeared now down the rabbit-hole of the international financial oligarchy.

Former Barclays CEO Bob Diamond is testifying before parliament in London today, and that's sure to bring some shocking moments. But there's already been one huge stunner. In advance of that testimony, Barclays released an email from October 29, 2008, written by Diamond to then-Chairman John Varley and COO Jerry del Messier (who also stepped down yesterday). The email from the CEO to the other two senior Barclays execs purports to detail the content of the conversation Diamond had with Bank of England deputy governor Paul Tucker that same day.

In the email, Diamond essentially tells the other two execs that he has been given permission by Tucker – encouraged, actually – to rig Libor rates downward. What’s even worse is that Diamond’s email suggests that Tucker was only following orders, i.e. that Tucker had received phone calls from "a number of senior figures within Whitehall" – that is, the British government – expressing concern about Barclays' high Libor rates. Tucker in this version of events was acting as a middleman for the British government, telling Diamond to fake his borrowing rates in order to preserve the appearance of financial stability, for the good of Queen and country as it were.

via rollingstone.com

New York The NYPD Tapes Confirmed - Village Voice

In 2010, The Village Voice produced a five-part series, the "NYPD Tapes," about a cop who secretly taped his fellow New York Police Department officers.

For more than two years, Adrian Schoolcraft secretly recorded every roll call at the 81st Precinct in Brooklyn and captured his superiors urging police officers to do two things in order to manipulate the "stats" that the department is under pressure to produce: Officers were told to arrest people who were doing little more than standing on the street, but they were also encouraged to disregard actual victims of serious crimes who wanted to file reports.

Arresting bystanders made it look like the department was efficient, while artificially reducing the amount of serious crime made the commander look good.

via villagevoice.com

Jack Abramoff: The lobbyist's playbook

via youtube.com

Government Corruption - Goldman VP Name Change

via youtube.com