by starroute » Tue Apr 04, 2006 1:52 pm
The article says: "In the most recent scheme, according to The Post, the money originating from the so-called "tri-border region" of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, was transferred to an account at the New York bank through a money-transfer company in Uruguay . . ."<br><br>Really, there's been so much shady stuff over the years involving both the tri-border area and money-laundering through Uruguay that it's hard to know where to start.<br><br>For example, there's this:<br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.mosquitonet.com/~prewett/ncrmay891113.html">www.mosquitonet.com/~prew...91113.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>P-2 was unmasked in 1981 during police investigations into the Mafia contacts and financial crimes of Italian banker Michele Sindona, who for many years was the chief influence in the Vatican Bank, thanks to his contacts with Paul VI and Prince Massimo Spada, a Vatican nobleman, top financial adviser to the Holy See, and a Knight of Malta. Numerous members of P-2 also turned out to be Knights of Malta, including several military and police intelligence chiefs and bankers.<br><br>The most sinister was Count Umberto Ortolani, SMOM's ambassador to Uruguay and the brains behind the P-2. Ortolani had extensive bank and real estate holdings in Uruguay and was at one time the head of Uruguay's second-largest private bank, Banco Financiero Sudamericano. He also established a P-2 branch in Montevideo, with about 500 members, including prominent military hard-liners. When the P-2 scandal broke, Ortolani fled to Sao Paulo, Brazil, whence the Italian police were unable to extradite him, because of Brazil's resistant extradition laws.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>Or, getting back to Moon, there's this (from a long article which is well worth reading in full):<br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://educate-yourself.org/cn/sunmyongmoon9part19aug98.shtml">educate-yourself.org/cn/s...ug98.shtml</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br> Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who has invested heavily in media and politics in both North and South America, has built what appears to be a major money-laundering center in the secretive banking haven of Uruguay.<br><br>Moon, the founder of The Washington Times and a major conservative funder in the United States, allegedly has used religious followers to transport money clandestinely to Uruguay and deposit amounts adding up to the tens of millions of dollars, and possibly much more.<br><br>Uruguay's bank secrecy laws and Moon's political clout have spared his operations from significant legal action. But the money laundry has drawn periodic attention from government and other investigators in recent years.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>Or this article -- which appeared a couple of years ago in the Moon-owned Washington Times, if you can believe it. (My guess would be that the Moonies are leaning hard on the organized crime and terrorism aspects in an attempt to divert attention from their own activities in the region. But with this stuff it's hard to tell exactly who's conning whom.):<br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040525-044739-7197r.htm">washingtontimes.com/upi-b...-7197r.htm</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>Of 400 money-exchange houses in Paraguay's Ciudad del Este, only ten are legal. The image of Paraguay mirrors a current problem that, like terrorism, walks about without feet, faceless, disregarding borders, easily avoiding the constraints of international order and institutional legality. . . .<br><br>Paraguay's money laundering industry cleans illicit revenue generated by the drug trade, arms trafficking, smuggling, tax evasion and corruption. Since 1997 all Paraguayan citizens have to be able to prove the origin of their money if it exceeds $10,000. Authorities of the Bureau for Prevention of Money and Property Laundering, also known by its Spanish acronym SEPRELAD, recently reported the main types of financial organizations most deeply involved in money laundering. One of SEPRELAD's major is the connection between money laundering and terrorism, especially in the Triple Border region where Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay intersect. It is rumored that about $10 billion circulates annually through the Triple Border area without any type of control, a staggering amount. Prominent Paraguayan athletes, businessmen, retailers and moneychangers are all involved in "greatest laundromat in the world," to paraphrase lawmakers in the Brazilian National Congress. . . .<br><br> Other Latin American nations are slowly beginning to combat illicit money flows. Uruguay in 1998 defined money laundering as criminal activity in order to trace funds generated by the drug trade. Shortly afterwards, Montevideo broadened the law to cover other forms of corruption. In 2001 Uruguay passed legislation extend legal oversight to money generated from smuggling, terrorism, human trafficking and the trade in human organs.<br><br>Chile earlier in 1995 proscribed money laundering but the legislation initially only covered illicit funds generated by drug trafficking. New legislation broadens the list of prohibited revenue sources to include terrorism, arms trafficking, child prostitution, white slavery and pornography, as well as to related crimes.<br><br>Brazilian organized crime shunts a great amount of illicit money through the banks and legally licensed financiers. Financial investigations by Brazilian authorities determined that members of the Arab-Brazilian community flow up to $30 million dollars each day through money-exchanges or front companies, which operate as loan guarantors but are in reality mau houses. The true activity of these organizations is to launder illicit dollars into Brazilian reals, which, in their turn, return to neighboring countries as so-called clean money.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>And that's not even counting the somewhat vaguer stories I find in my files about old Nazis, reactionary Catholics, Cuban exiles, and Operation Condor all chugging around the area back in the 70's and 80's.<br> <p></p><i></i>
