| -Caveat Lector-
This sounds like another BCCI "investigation" where the DOJ (Robert
Mueller, current FBI Director) and Mary Jo White (U.S. Attorney in New York) had
the N.Y District Attorney (Morgenthau) stop his investigation and then killed
the DOJ's investigation.
Criminal Probe of Riggs Bank Underway By Kathleen Day The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into possible
wrongdoing at Riggs Bank, which has already paid a $25 million civil penalty for
its failures to abide by laws designed to prevent money laundering. The investigation was detailed in a letter earlier this month from the U.S.
attorney for the District to federal bank regulators, asking them to put on hold
their own investigation into the bank and its directors and senior management
"to avoid any potential adverse impact" on the Justice Department probe. A copy
of the letter was obtained by The Washington Post. The U.S. attorney's office is examining the role of current and former
executives and directors of Riggs Bank and its parent company, sources familiar
with the probe confirmed yesterday. The goal is to determine which people, if any, should be held accountable for
the bank company's years-long failure to comply with federal laws designed to
deter money laundering and other questionable activities that have surfaced in
ongoing Senate and federal probes, said sources who spoke only on the condition
that they not be identified because the investigation is continuing. Among the people whose actions at the bank are under review are the company's
largest shareholder, Joe L. Allbritton, 79, and his wife, Barbara, and son
Robert, who is chairman of the bank and holding company, according to the
sources. Joe L. Allbritton bought the bank company in 1981 and ran it for two decades
before handing control to his son three years ago. But he remained on the board
of the holding company, and his wife remained on the board of the bank, until
the end of May, when they resigned under pressure from bank regulators. The Allbritton family said through a spokesman, "We've received no notice
from any agency of a criminal investigation. We're confident we've done nothing
wrong." U.S. Attorney for the District Kenneth L. Wainstein asked federal bank
regulators at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) -- the
division of the U.S. Treasury that regulates banks -- to suspend its probe of
the role current and former "directors and senior management of the bank and its
holding company may have played in soliciting certain accounts, authorizing
transactions in them, and overseeing compliance with law, regulation and safe
and sound banking practices; and the personal use of bank assets by certain
individuals." According to sources, a similar letter was sent to the Federal
Reserve Board. Wainstein said the OCC investigations would likely overlap with the probe his
office is conducting in conjunction with the Justice Department's divisions that
handle cases involving money laundering and fraud. He said the Justice Department probe is looking into "a variety of matters
relating to Riggs Bank, including the adequacy of Riggs Bank's
anti-money-laundering compliance program," as well as potential conflict of
interest violations by R. Ashley Lee, who was Riggs's chief federal examiner
until taking a job as vice president of the bank two years ago. Lee has been
placed on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigation. Bank regulators and enforcement officials fined Riggs earlier this year for
failure to have controls in place to ensure customers' money did not come from
or fund illicit activities. Of particular interest were accounts connected to
former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, to the dictator of Equatorial Guinea
and his family, and to officials from the Embassy of Saudi Arabia. A Senate
report last month detailed widespread compliance failures at Riggs, including a
description of how Riggs helped Pinochet hide millions of dollars from
international prosecutors. The probe into Riggs top management reveals a widening of an ongoing Justice
Department investigation into Riggs that initially centered on accounts related
to Equatorial Guinea and former Riggs employee Simon P. Kareri, who was in
charge of those accounts. Kareri was fired earlier this year on suspicion of
embezzlement. Riggs spokesman Mark N. Hendrix had no comment yesterday. Officials from the
Justice Department also declined to comment.
  Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om |
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