The Court in the Halkbank case replied to this week's letter from the defense, bluntly pointing out that the Stay imposed by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals required that all scheduled matters be paused until the appeal is decided. Whether you think their letter was improper, simply overbearing, or otherwise, here's the Court's comment below, in the signature box to the right.
There seems to be a widespread misunderstanding among foreign nationals, regarding the extraterritorial jurisdiction of US money laundering laws. Many believe that, if they never enter the United States, nor hold bank accounts there, nor engage in trade or commerce with American companies, that they are immune from being charged with money laundering in the US. Nothing could be further from the truth; there is extraterritorial application of United States money laundering statutes.
Basically, the elements of the crime for foreign officials are as follows:
(A) There must be a natural person who is engaged in a financial transaction. This term has been broadly interpreted by Federal Courts.
(B) The individual must know that the transaction involved the proceeds of an illegal activity, known as a Specified Unlawful Activity. Some recent examples; violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, corrupt acts, or violations of the Wire Fraud or Mail Fraud Acts.
(C) The individual intended to conceal the proceeds of the unlawful activity, or promote the activity itself.
(D) If the individual is not a US citizen, it exceeds $10,000, and the conduct in part, occurs in the United States. This is where correspondent banking relationships often invoke jurisdiction, as they can involve movement of the proceeds of crime. They are the necessary conduits of US Dollar transactions, and satisfy the jurisdictional requirements.
Therefore, one may never have any ties to the United States, but receive US Dollars as the proceeds of a criminal act, and deposit those greenbacks, which work their way through the global banking system, including through the New York financial centre, thereby providing jurisdiction.
Alternatively, bribes and kickbacks, paid in US Dollars by American companies to foreign government officials, originated in American financial institutions, did, in part, occur in the United States. There's your jurisdiction another way.
These are but two simple examples of how prosecutors find extraterritorial application of America's money laundering laws. When the senior foreign government official finds out, to his chagrin, that the bribe money he accepted from an American corporation to approve a contract with his nation, he may be literally biting off more than he can chew.
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If you read my recent article, Are the Seven Other Defendants in Matthias Krull's Miami Money Laundering Case also looking for Someone to Testify Against ? (January 12,2021), you know that there are a fistful of money launderers, all linked to the convicted Swiss banker & laundryman Matthias Krull, who appear to be cooperating with the authorities. There are several guilty pleas, or a total lack of a zealous defense being conducted in the remaining cases. What's up ?
A quick check of the docket, strangely enough, shows no entries whatsoever since Last October. Either I have lost my touch in interpreting between the lines, or these defendants are all looking for sentence reduction through cooperating against targets who make the mistake of going to trial. Given that Krull was involved in, not only the major Venezuela-to-Miami money laundering case, but also movement of over $100m to and through Malta, how many of the seven other defendants have first-hand knowledge or evidence that they could employ against the Malta money launderers at trial ? Food for thought, gentlemen.
Also, don't forget number eight, Matthias Krull himself, who otherwise must start serving his ten-year sentence.
Readers of Malta Today last Sunday noted the an article critical of yours truly, and this blog, claiming that the information written about the criminal activities of Malta's cashiered ex-Prime Minister, who resigned in disgrace, is not true. I was never consulted to respond to the article, which leads me to believe that it was published under the orders of the Labour Party, and most likely actually written by them, meaning the Toxic Dodger himself, Muscat. I did respond on this blog.
Today, the article appeared online, and here is my Comment, posted after the story.
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Political parties in any country, including the United States, are not immortal.They can implode due to a massive scandal, or the public's loss of faith their ability to deliver on promises, or total loss of relevance. We await the judgment of history upon the Labour Party of the Republic of Malta. Its titular leaders, and power brokers, are about to suffer a legal Tsunami that will shake the party to its very roots. Whether it survives as a viable entity is anyone's guess.
Why is this happening ? It seems that the Party's Socialist roots (think Dom Mintoff) have been cast off in favour of what objective observers call Champagne Socialism, where the leadership espouses populism and socialism, but drowns in bribes and kickbacks, offshore tax haven shell corporations, and Mafia-style participation in just about every form of crime that a country could have operating within its borders.
The avarice and greed have become so all-consuming that the Party leaders have, while engaging in transnational crime, unintentionally awakened the Tiger, and they are about to end up inside it (no pun intended). If you insert yourself where the Big Boys are playing, and interfere with their game, you will pay the price, one way or another.
This might be a good time for the people of Malta to create a new political party, or resurrect an old one that has sentimental value, for things are about to change; Strap in and buckle up.
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*Note that the deteriorating Enviromnent, Daphne's assassination, Pilatus Bank, and Panama have all been swept under the rug, whilst the vultures fight over the remaining spoils. Twitchcraft.
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I am still trying to figure out why counsel for Ali Sadr Hashemi Nejad, the owner of defunct Pilatus Bank, has not yet asked the Court to allow their late service of process upon Lawrence Connell, the former Competent Person who was administering the Maltese bank's affairs, in their quest to obtain Discovery from Connell. The order stated that the case was dismissed if their did not serve him shortly before Christmas, and this was not accomplished. Do the lawyers think the Court will overlook this little detail ?
I would think that their first order of business would be to persuade the Court to approve of their late service, and insure that the case remains active. Their stipulation with Connell's attorney, for an extension of time to respond, had a court order attached, to rubber stamp their agreement, but it has not yet been signed by the District Judge. What's wrong with this picture ? Perhaps the Court does not approve.
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He may have left the office of prime minister more than a year ago, but Joseph Muscat will not go out in public unless he is accompanies by several armed bodyguards. Is he still afraid of an Eastern European hit squad, as has been rumoured ? In any event, he is no longer entitled to government-supplied (and paid for) hired guns, so why is Robert Abela, the current PM, protecting the man named as the EU's most corrupt government official in 2019, we ask. It is because he still rules Malta's Labour Mafia.
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While Malta was engaged today in paying close attention to the testimony of its former Prime Minister, Joseph Muscat, with many having followed online the real-time summaries of the questions posed and the his responses, this is a good time to clear the air regarding his exposure, as a foreign official, to America's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act., as well as that of other Maltese government officials who accept bribes, kickbacks or other items of value from Americans and their companies to direct government business or contracts to them.
While Muscat, and the attorneys who are representing him, most certainly have asvised him that foreign government officials may not be charged under the FCPA, there is an alternate method through which Federal prosecutors obtain a conviction for corruption. Bribes operate as a Predicate Act, otherwise known as Specific Unlawful Activity (SUA), and such corruption produces what some commentators regard as "proceeds which generate money laundering transactions."
To be more specific, corruption cases meet the test for money laundering when, knowing that the property involved in a financial transaction represented the Proceeds of some form of Unlawful Activity, the targets conducted or attempted to conduct a financial transaction, which in fact involved the proceeds of that specific Unlawful Activity, or with the knowledge that the transaction was designed at least in part to conceal or disguise the nature, location, source, ownership or control of the Proceeds of the Unlawful Activity.
Muscat's attorneys are correct; he probably cannot be charged under the FCPA. but he can most certainly be indicted for money laundering.
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If you have been following our coverage of United States vs. Turkiye Halk Bankasi, the Halkbank case, you know that the Second Circuit court of Appeal has ordered a Stay of trial court proceedings, pending a decision in the bank's appeal of the Court's denial of its Foreign Sovereign Immunity defense. On January 15, bank counsel sent this letter to the Court, which appears to be a pointed reminder to the judge of the terms of the Stay. Counsel specifically asked "to vacate all pretrial, trial and related deadlines in this Court."
It may have been made with respect, but the letter still appears to be out of line, in our humble opinion. The Court has a staff, including attorneys who function as law clerks, who would have brought these issues to the attention of the Court, if in fact the Court would not have already taken care of it. Is the letter insulting ? We cannot say, but in a case where defense counsel has pulled out each and every effort to extricate their client from the case, the letter is a bit too much. Judges receive Stay orders often; they know what to do when they receive one.
We note that an article appeared today, in one of Malta's government-controlled newspapers, that attempts to smear this blog and your blogger, by openly doubting that the information appearing therein is true and correct. Furthermore, the article clumsily attempts to discredit yours truly, with half-truths and disinformation, all of which is designed to convince the people of Malta not to read our stories, especially when they concern their cashiered former Prime Minister, Joseph "Artful Dodger' Muscat, and his Labour Party.
Nothing in that poorly-written article should persuade our readers to stop seeing the painful truth about their corrupt government, its dark alliance with international criminals, and its ultimate destiny, which shall be total disgrace when its leadership is indicted abroad. Truth to Power, my friends.
Regarding the incomplete picture painted in the article, longtime readers of my work know that I have been, while engaged in other pursuits, a journalist for more than fifty years, beginning when I wrote combat stories while riding atop an armoured personnel carrier in the Vietnam war, as a soldier fighting Communism. In all that time, including over 8000 articles on financial crime, I have only been found once, by any court, to have published information later found to be untrue, and by the way, that was due to lies told by two sources, though I have not been ordered to pay one cent for damages, nor will I be required to. I consider that a pretty good track record, considering the huge number of articles I have published.
The writer of the article about me cleverly ignores the fact that that I am a recognized expert in the field of money laundering, due to my open acknowledgement of my participation in that dark art in my youth, and have testified before the United States Congress three times as such, in 1999 and 2000. You can find the transcripts online in the Congressional Record. I have lectured on the subject of how to identify and suppress financial crime in over 100 countries, and have consulted with law enforcement agencies in the United States and Canada, for more than 25 years.
I know money laundering when I see it, and Malta is completely infected with it; while claiming to help the people, Labour are proven Champagne Socialists, raking in bribes and kickbacks, while paying lip service to the principles of Dom Mintoff. I therefore pose a direct threat to Malta's financial criminals and their facilitators in the Labour Party. No wonder they want to discredit me; Let them try. Their party's continued existence is at stake here, for if their corrupt leadership is indicted abroad, it could implode, thereafter to be left in the dustbin of history; No wonder they are afraid.
The article asks whether my predictions about Malta's future will come true. Watch this blog for the answer.
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If you have been reading between the lines, you know that major developments in the Malta money laundering cases are expected in the immediate future. You also know that two of the principal Persons of Interest a/k/a Suspects are now operating outside of Malta, believing that they have cheated justice. They have no clue about what is about to happen. Readers are advised to monitor this Blog on a daily basis, as we will bring you all developments as they occur, which will be most likely be after the close of business, CET. It is suggested that you either check at the end of your day, or set an alert up for all new articles that are published.
Malta's Prime Minister, Artfully Guided by his Predecessor by COSIMO
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In re Pilatus Bank PLC, the Leters Rogatory (Discovery request) matter, in which the bank is seeking information for its pending EU action to reinstate its license, as well as a proposed civil suit for bamages against the European Central Bank, remains a mystery.What is the status, we ask ?
Here's what we know:
(1) the District Judge gave the bank until just before Christmas to amend, and to serve Lawrence Connell, the Competent Person in the Malta Pilatus Bank disposition. If there was no service, then the case would stand dismissed.
(2) Notwithstanding this, Pilatus' Miami attorneys served Connell AFTER the deadline, which may or may not stand. The Court has not yet been requested to reinstate the case, nor has it acted Sue Sponte ( on its own) to do so.
(3) Now, the parties have executed Stipulation to extend time for Connell to respond to the Amended Petition. There is a section for the Court to approve of the Stipulation, but to date we have not seen it do so.
Question: Does the Court still have jurisdiction over the action? We cannot say.but we wish somebody would seek some judicial guidance in the way of a ruling. Also, is Connell going to fight compliance with the Discovery request ? Please, let's get some answers.
You know things are about to happen to the Malta money laundering targets when a South Florida criminal defense attorney, who handles White Collar Crime, is advertising on the website of the leading Malta newspaper; I guess the word is out. While it might be considered improper to disclose his name, the lawyer appears to be of Italian heritage. We wonder who tipped him off ?
We are going to devote a Special Section of this Blog to the criminal cases that are soon to be filed, so that readers may go directly to the information. Case status, recent developments, and our analysis will all be covered. needless to say, this expansion of our material each day means that we need your help in expanding our coverage.
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