2008: The world would go through one of the biggest crises it had ever witnessed. $19.2 trillion of household wealth would be lost. The Death of the ‘Real’ Economy, Youtube 38.48, Cold Fusion 2022
Speculation started to migrate from stocks into real estate. ibid.
The ratings agencies completely screwed up. ibid.
These products created no value in the economy but were making banks a whole bunch of money … There was no-one supervising any of these products. ibid.
These banks became extremely vulnerable to financial shocks. ibid.
One subprime lender after another files for bankruptcy. ibid.
Wages and incomes continued to languish: the ‘real’ economy was limping … 6 million Americans lost their jobs and 8 million Americans lost their homes. ibid.
These stupid financial experiments aren’t helping. ibid.
Printing trillions of dollars as the economy was slowing to a halt. ibid.
The American senate has asked for a criminal investigation into Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs: Masters of the World? Youtube 48.48, Endevr/Canal+ 2021
Over 32,000 people in 32 countries work for Goldman Sachs. ibid.
It’s almost like a secret society. The employees and ex-employees are in fact all sworn to secrecy. ibid.
Goldman Sachs is officially an investment bank. But what kind of investments? ibid.
Since 2008 a mass of articles has been published claiming the bank grew richer during the financial crisis, a crisis it is alleged Goldman Sachs helped to create. They are also accused of betraying their clients and manipulating world trade prices. ibid.
When Barack Obama is elected, many managers of Goldman Sachs enter the White House and the Government while certain people become guardians of the market. ibid.
Goldman Sachs was convicted in 2010 and forced to pay a record $550 million fine for misleading their investors. ibid.
Money wagered on the collapse of the housing market: the scandal was so huge that representatives of Goldman Sachs were summoned to the senate. ibid.
The banks have said, leave us deregulated, we know how to run things, don’t put government in to meddle. Then with that freedom of maneuver they took huge gambles, and even made illegal actions, and then broke the world system. As soon as that happened then they rushed out to say ‘bail us out, bail us out, if you don’t bail us out, we’re too big to fail, you have to save us.’ As soon as that happened, they said 'oh, don’t regulate us, we know what to do.’
And … the public is standing there, amazed, because we just bailed you out how can you be paying yourself billions of dollars of bonuses again? And the bankers say, ‘well we deserve it, what’s your problem?’ And the problem that the Occupy Wall Street and other protesters have is: you don’t deserve it, you nearly broke the system, you gamed the economy, you’re paying mega fines, yet you’re still in the White House you’re going to the state dinners, you’re paying yourself huge bonuses, what kind of system is this? Jeffrey Sachs, ‘That’s not a free market, that’s a game’, Al Jazeera 11th December 2011
It’s a very strange company. Companies are being set up. Money comes in, money goes out. That is totally spooky. Skandal! Bringing Down Wirecard, insider, Netflix 2022
A growing scandal involving a Germany digital payments company Wirecard. ibid. US news
Money laundering, gambling, porn, helping terrorist organisations … It looked like a bank but it was actually a robbery. ibid. man in the know
We’re a software company with a bank as a daughter. ibid. company to Financial Times journalist
Part of its business is money laundering for criminals. ibid.
Yes, so I started shorting the company. ibid. UK short seller
I was very aware that Wirecard were spying on us. ibid. Financial Times journalist
The whole thing is fake. None of it is real. They came up with this deep fake. ibid.
Japan’s SoftBank to invest 900 Million Euros in Wirecard. ibid. online news April 2019
The press conference that night was like The Muppet Show. ibid. observer
When Wirecard collapsed in June 2020 investo losses exceeded 20 billion Euros. ibid.
On a quiet night in 1982 Italian banker Roberto Calvi is on the run. He has spent a lifetime working for Banco Ambrosiano, a bank whose biggest customer is the Vatican. But now he’s fugitive, desperately trying to escape the long arm of the law. The Vatican Financial Empire: A Hidden History, Youtube 50.27, 2024
‘The body of missing financier Roberto Calvi, the central figure in a $790 million bank fraud scandal, was found hanging from a London bridge Friday, the police said.’ ibid. US news
For centuries the Catholic Church has been a monumental figure of human history … But it is also a powerful financial institution with the world’s largest real estate collections and vested interests in a vast number of corporations. ibid.
The Church reaches out to an unlikely financier – the Rothschilds … The Rothschilds lent the Vatican 40 million Euros in today’s money. It becomes a lifeline the Church desperately needs. ibid.
The Vatican Bank: It’s a perfect vehicle to hide and launder money. ibid.
Working with [Michele] Sindona is one of the worst mistakes the Church has ever made. ibid.
Within just a few short years, Calvi and Sindona have grown their own financial empires bigger and faster than almost anyone. ibid.
By 1982 Robert Calvi realizes that his financial schemes cannot be sustained any longer. ibid.
The Church agrees to pay $244 million in a legal settlement involving Banco Ambrosiano. ibid.
‘Michele Sindona, one of Italy’s most successful financiers whose empire collapsed amid charges of fraud and murder, died today in a Voghera hospital of cyanide poisoning.’ ibid. US news
Despite being implicated in the massive financial scandal surrounding the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano in 1982, [Archbishop] Marcinkus manages to avoid legal consequences. ibid.
In the 1990s the Vatican Bank faces unprecedented scrutiny and scandal. ibid.
A crisis is brewing, one that will expose a darkness far greater than any financial misdeeds. ibid.
Allegations of corruption, financial mismanagement, power struggles and internal conflict within the Vatican hierarchy. ibid.
Over the last decade the largest international bank have been involved in multiple scandals. One name embodies the excesses of this renegade finance: HSBC. Uncovering HSBC’s Dark Financial Empire: The Untouchable Bank, Youtube 1.26.40, 2023
From money laundering to the Mafia, and manipulation of currency, HSBC has its hands in a variety of illicit activities. ibid.
‘How many billions of dollars do you have to launder for drug lords, an how many economic sanctions do you have to violate, before someone will consider shutting down an institution like this?’ ibid. Elizabeth Warren, US committee investigation
HSBC enjoys unbelievable immunity and continues to earn more profits. ibid.
Hong Kong is the new El Dorado of world finance. ibid.
In Hong Kong HSBC is untouchable. ibid.
The opium trade had its golden age, and the settlers need a bank. They create the HSBC, the Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation. ibid.
Formerly the Bank of Pirates, it continues to function on the dark side of finance. The only different is, it no longer operates only in Hong Kong. The bank had become a global empire. ibid.
Not only have bank employees worked hand in hand with criminal organisations responsible for thousands of murders, but their managers ignored all of the warning signs. ibid.
‘Drug lords that said that HSBC was the place to launder money.’ ibid. man in the know
‘London knew everything and the just didn’t care.’ ibid.
If HSBC were a country, it would be the fifth economic power. ibid.
George Osborne: He writes a letter to his counterpart, Timothy Geithner, and to the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, in which he defends the HSBC cause. ibid.
It moved its headquarters to London but keeps the heart of its business in Hong Kong. ibid.
Even the Swiss feel obliged to intervene … The Swiss settled for chump change. ibid.