FBI

When it comes to corruption, cronyism and general muppetry in Washington D.C., the only real question is 'where does one start?' Yet one has to start somewhere to conclude with a list of the ten most corrupt and despicable marionettes in D.C. Which is precisely what JudicialWatch has done in its annual compilation of the "Top 10 Most Corrupt Politicians in Washington D.C." for 2011. And confirming what everyone knows, that both the left and right are merely irrelevant names for the same general social affliction, or should we call it by its true name - wealth pillage - the split is even between democrats and republicans. In no particular order, the winners of 2011 are...

The judge in the MF Global disaster just got real. The assignment of Louis Joseph Freeh, former Director of the the FBI no less, somewhat assures that Corzine and crew will get their day in court - or at least be vilified enough that someone pays the real price for the wrongdoings. He is the perfect man for the job having investigated, among others, mob connections to Italian pizza joints.

It is now 100% safe to say that the 100 basis point "springing rate clause" in the 6.25% bond indenture (that never saw even one coupon payment before the company filed) should Corzine join the White House will never be triggered. As NBC reports, Federal prosecutors and the FBI are set to join the inquiry into what happened to hundreds of millions of dollars invested with a securities firm headed by former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, officials familiar with the case told NBC New York. The Justice Department involvement comes as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodities Future Trading Commission have said their own inquiry is underway into the collapse of the brokerage firm, MF Global Holdings Ltd. The head of the Chicago Mercantile exchange said Tuesday that the firm broke rules requiring it to keep clients' money and company funds in separate accounts. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara declined to comment Tuesday as did DOJ spokesmen in New York and Washington. An FBI spokesman also declined to comment.

Is it safe to say that the Goldman love affair with the government is officially over? From Reuters: "Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta will surrender to the FBI on Wednesday to face criminal charges, a person familiar with the investigation said. Gupta was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam's trial earlier this year. He has denied wrongdoing. Rajaratnam was sentenced to 11-years in prison this month. Gupta's attorney, Gary Naftalis, did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment." Perhaps it is also safe to say that the war between Obama and Wall Street is now official. Of course, we give Obama about 24 hours before the economy tanks, the stock market implodes, the great unwashed see their meager 201k's converted into 100.5k's, and decide to #OccupyTheWhiteHouse. In other words, our money is not on the administration on this one. In fact, when the smoke settles, we expect a few extra tentacles from 200 West to penetrate even deeper into the three farcical branches of government of this once non-banana republic.

Even as the hacker collective known as Operation Empire State Rebellion, which back in March threatened to bring "peaceful revolution to America, and will engage in civil disobedience until Bernanke steps down" and has since largely fallen off the scene, presumably surprised by Bernanke complete lack of fazing, another hacker group, LulzSec, best known for recent hacking into PBS, has just taken the first step toward pissing off none other than its archnemesis the FBI, by defacing and taking control of an FBI affiliate website. From IBTimes: "In an apparent protest against the NATO and Obama administration, the LulzSec group announced the breach of FBI  affiliate website, the Atlanta chapter of Infragard. The group raised claims that they have taken “complete control” over the website and has “defaced it”. They also announced that the data including passwords obtained from infragardatlanta.org would prove useful for them to hack into other FBI affiliates, since a lot of users tend to reuse their passwords even though the practice is generally unappreciated by FBI." So while OP_ESR continues to engage in emptry rhetoric and summons the population to one after another attempt at uprising (Apparently June 14th is the latest D-Day), LulzSec, which is also speculated to be behind the historic ongoing hacks of the various Sony networks, is taking cyber-matters into its own hands. We wonder however whether this escalation of cyberwarfare against the US by the US will necessitate a declaration of war by Obama against the US. Admittedly, that would be a Keynesian wet dream: think of the record boost to GDP if Geithner literally nukes the west and eastern seaboards, only to rebuild them again...

The FBI and the Secret Service showed their willingness today to utilize the expanded definitions of “counterfeit currency” and “domestic terrorism” brought about by the recent conviction of Bernard von NotHaus of the alternative currency outlet “Liberty Dollar” when the agencies initiated a surprise raid on an unsuspecting Chuck E. Cheese establishment in Des Moines, Iowa. “Haven’t you ever been at the laundry mat with a pocket of change thinking you have plenty of quarters, only to discover that most of them are Chuck E. Cheese tokens?!” railed Anne Tompkins, Department of Justice prosecutor in the Liberty Dollar case, as she read from a carefully prepared DHS script. “That is close enough to counterfeiting for me! It is a blatant destabilization of our democratic economy! What are you supposed to do, let your underpants wallow in filth while Chuck E. Cheese makes a profit? I say no to these financial terrorists!”

The FBI, which apparently has no major criminals to pursue, is now busting those who are preparing for the dollar's imminent destruction. Bernard von NotHaus, head of the National Organization for the Repeal of the Federal Reserve and Internal Revenue Code, commonly known as NORFED and also known as Liberty Services (his website can, or rather could, be seen here), which since 1998 has been issuing silver coins as a replacement for the relentlessly devaluating US currency, was convicted today by a federal jury of
making, possessing, and selling his own coins. "
Following an eight-day trial and less than two hours of deliberation,
von NotHaus, the founder and monetary architect of a currency known as
the Liberty Dollar, was found guilty by a jury in Statesville, North
Carolina, of making coins resembling and similar to United States coins;
of issuing, passing, selling, and possessing Liberty Dollar coins; of
issuing and passing Liberty Dollar coins intended for use as current
money; and of conspiracy against the United States." The devious scheme for which von NotHaus faces up to 15 years jail time: "NORFED’s purpose was to mix Liberty Dollars into
the current money of the United States. NORFED intended for the Liberty
Dollar to be used as current money in order to limit reliance on, and
to compete with, United States currency." In other words make the US currency less credible. We are confident the Chairsatan will take this shining example of what happens to "counterfeiters" of US currency to heart, and promply proceed to release another cool trillion in green 75% cotton/25% linen products, forcing US jails to promptly fill up with millions of subversive elements who no longer wish to interact with the former reserve currency.

9/11 was as foreseeable as the financial crisis ...

"It is hard to overstate the political significance of the anthrax attacks .... That event played at least as much of a role as the 9/11 attacks in elevating the Terrorism fear levels which, through today, sustain endless wars, massive defense and homeland security budgets, and relentless civil liberties erosions."

Another frame up falls apart ...

Fox Business' Charlie Gasparino tells us of another curious development in the insider trading affair. According to the former CNBC staffer, the FBI now not only utilizes such mob tactics as bugged phones and wearing wires, but is now resorting to actual moles within presumably innocent organizations such as hedge funds. And it is no surprise that the federal task force continues to chisel away at the SAC diaspora, in this case David Ganek's Level Global. After all the start prize is and has always been the prominent resident of 30 Crown Lane in Greenwich, CT.

As if the global capital markets hadn’t suffered enough shocks lately -- artillery fire in Korea, meltdown in Ireland, Eva Longoria Parker’s divorce filing -- life just threw America’s hedge-fund masters a beanball. It appears the government wants to toss many of them in jail. This week the Federal Bureau of Investigation executed search warrants at three large hedge funds’ offices as part of a widening insider-trading investigation. Several other funds, including SAC Capital Advisors, got subpoenas for documents. What does this crisis mean for the industry? We already can guess the first question that must have leaped to the mind of every self-respecting wealth maximizer: “How can I use this information to make enough money to buy myself a jet?” The answer, of course, is that it pays to be on the inside. This raises an even more intriguing existential question. Is it possible for a hedge fund to profit off its own imminent collapse? A little role-playing exercise shows it’s not only possible -- it’s preordained.

Preliminary news of a WSJ report that the FBI has raided Diamondback and Level Global. First two SAC spin offs down. David Ganek's 740 Park suite about to be put on the market.

According to preliminary news reports, the headquarters of Sommet Group, the Franklin, TN-based major outsourcer of business services including payroll, medical billing, HRM, insurance and risk management and others, has been raided by the FBI, the IRS and the DOL. It would be shocking, shocking, if some fraud was uncovered when it comes to (mis)reporting labor statistics or medical billing detail. From News Channel 5: "The FBI along with the IRS criminal investigation's division and the Department of Labor have all gone into the Sommet Group headquarters in Franklin with a search warrant. The Sommet Group is located on Cool Springs Boulevard. The FBI would not say what the search warrant was issued for. They expect to release more details Tuesday afternoon."

God bless brave US-based hosting companies.

http://embeddedart.com/

 

This website has been taken offline due to the sensitive nature of the
events that transpired in Texas this morning and in compliance with a
request from the FBI. If you want to see the original letter, please
see the archived version at thesmokinggun.com: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2010/0218102stack1.html

Regards,

T35 Hosting