Lying sons of bitches

Tax evasion is a problem in more than just Greece. I think the silence is due to them not wanting to get called out themselves.

PINION" target="_blank">http://articles.cnn.com/2011-11-02/opinion/opinion_europe-shadow-economies_1_tax-evasion-tax-collection-tax-rates?_s=PMPINION

No idea why that Emoticon showed up. I should have posted the link within a link perhaps.

I don't consider it outside the realm of possibility that the business and political elites of other EU companies have also avoided whatever taxes they could, however they could.

Reporters Without Borders story on this topic. If you scroll down, they have various reports on the state of press freedom in Greece.

So, HSBC is paying a $1.92B fine for laundering cartel money. It should be noted that they laundered $7B in cash. This is being touted as a record-breaking fine, which is more a statement on the grip the financial oligarchy has on the justice system than it is something for the justice system to be lauded for. No charges will actually be brought. Nobody's going to jail. Though one may expect that a few golden parachutes have been opened. And HSBC will recoup those losses within something like a month and a half.

By comparison, a guy who laundered $0.1B recently got twenty years in jail. The lesson is clear: if you're going to break the law, break it big.

We can add banking fraud to our list of disreputable businesses. Along with DnD dice made from endangered animal bones.

I think it's more along the lines of if you're going to break the law, be big when you do it. Actually, what Otoki just said (missed her comment when I first posted).

Apparently, "too big to fail" frequently also means "too big to prosecute."

And by "frequently," I mean "virtually always."

but corporations are people.

my friend.

Fantastic piece at Rolling Stone on the disparity between the way the War on Drugs is normally prosecuted in comparison to HSBC's wrist-slap.

Has anyone actually gone to jail for violations under Sarbanes-Oxley? I looked, but couldn't find much on the subject. The Wikipedia article refers to people who praise it for improving ethics, but doesn't mention successful prosecutions.

Also, I just read that Rolling Stone article from motorfirebox, and I feel stunned.

According to this article, one dude went to jail for 30 months for mail fraud (full story here). That... seems like it's pretty much it. One guy. Who committed fraud to save a small-potatoes, badly ailing firm.

Here is further outrage fuel (pdf) if you want to know more about how CEOs and CFOs could be going to prison for their massive fraud--but aren't, and likely won't.

I hate that I don''t see any way to change that.

AIG: "Thanks, America! NOW HAND OVER THE WALLETS! THIS IS A STICK-UP!"

I... just... I got nothing.

They changed their minds about the lawsuit.

There is no such thing as justice.

So it looks as if the class action approach is just too complex for justice? Really? The idea of having to break down each lawsuit into individual claims seems, well, somewhat frivolous (and burdensome on damaged parties). Obviously, the decision is being appealed, but so far it smells like too big to fault.

Fuckers, listed by name and country.

Hats off to the ICIJ, which has uncovered emails identifying the owners and managers of something like $32 TRILLION in untaxed offshore funds.

The ICIJ cherry picked a few notable individual. They didn't include a link to the entire list.

Is there somewhere the public can search through all of them?

Not that I've found so far.

Oh castrate me CE, but Carl is always relevant.