Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

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Mexico’s Attorney General: US Authorities Still Haven’t Found “A Single Dollar” of Drug Lord El Chapo

Who do you believe?

On the one hand, US Authorities Still Haven’t Found “A Single Dollar” of Drug Lord El Chapo Guzmán, says Mexico’s Attorney General Raúl Cervantes Andrade,

The ex-leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, did not use the financial system, so thus far, no financial resources have been recovered, Mexican Attorney General Raúl Cervantes Andrade said Wednesday.

“To date US authorities have not found anything pertaining to the assets of el Chapo. We have realized that he did not use the financial system because we have not found any assets; they have not been able to find a single dollar,” the official said.

On the other hand, Jorge Ramos Hernández, a PAN congressman claims the assets total US$16 billion and belong to Mexico.

Clearly the guy from the PRI is not talking with the guy from the PAN.

Meanwhile, Senator Ted Cruz proposes the El Chapo Act, enabling 14 billion dollars worth of assets from El Chapo and other drug lords to fund the border wall.

In fact, in 2014 the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)

issued a chart identifying 288 companies involved in Guzmán’s money laundering operations that had been blacklisted by OFAC between 2007 and 2014. The Guzman-linked companies, mostly located in Mexico, covered a broad range of areas including real estate, gas stations, construction and trucking companies, and furniture stores.

As I mentioned last month, one of El Chapo’s associates agreed not to contest the forfeiture of nearly $1.4 billion in assets and cash by U.S. authorities, and in 2012 the U.S. Treasury Department put financial sanctions on El Chapo’s wife and son.

Who do you believe?

Cross-posted at WoW! Magazine.

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Somebody stands to make a bundle if Corzine takes the job

As the US debt shot up $238 billion to reach 100 percent of gross domestic project after the government’s debt ceiling was lifted, noted tax cheat Timothy Geithner may resign,

After the resolution of the debt-ceiling impasse, rumors have been flying that the last senior member of Barack Obama’s original economic team will call it quits.  Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner refused to answer questions about his plans yesterday on ABC’s Good Morning America

The rumor is that Jon Corzine may take the job.

Interestingly, MF Global, Corzine’s employer, just added what the Wall Street Journal calls a “quirky clause“,

Mr. Corzine’s current employer, MF Global Holdings Ltd., is promising to compensate investors who buy his company’s bonds with an interest-rate bump if the chief executive and former U.S. senator jumps ship for a government job. In essence, the securities deal assigns a value on the man filling the corner office: a one-percentage-point cherry atop the $300 million bond offering, or up to $15 million.

And not just “any job”, either (emphasis added),

According to a “Key Man Event” clause in the bond prospectus, the carrot doesn’t kick in for any old government job. Rather, it gets paid only if Mr. Corzine leaves MF Global “due to his appointment to a federal position by the President of the United States,” and the Senate confirms him before July 1, 2013. That is nearly six months into the next presidential term.

MF Global’s value hasn’t improved during Corzine’s tenure, but it certainly looks like someone will make a bundle from his departure.

UPDATE,
The NYT headline reads, “Pressured by White House, Treasury Secretary Is Expected to Stay at Post“, but, as Doug Mataconis points out,

The New York Times gives this story the headline “Pressured by White House, Treasury Secretary Is Expected to Stay at Post,” but from the tone of the article it’s pretty clear that this is what the White House officials quoted in the story hope is the case. Indeed, the story itself may be an effort to turn the lobbying of Geithner up a notch.

Clearly, the NYT is not in the MF Global orbit.

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Meet the new $100 bills


New 100-Dollar Bill: Government Combats Counterfeiters With New Benjamins
Ben Franklin Gets a Makeover As New $100 Bill Unveiled

Ben Franklin’s makeover was shown off at a ceremony this morning at the Treasury Department’s appropriately-titled Cash Room. The new notes will be issued early next year, on February 10, 2011.

Video here.

Right on time for the upcoming inflation!

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