http://burrowowl.net/wordpress/2008/12/the_many_crimes_of_tuco/
( Jamie Dimon has been a busy man as well... )
The many crimes of Tuco
December 9th, 2008
Tuco “the Rat” Ramirez was a busy guy.
Property Crimes
- armed robbery of citizens, state banks, and post offices
- arson in a state prison
- cattle rustling
- counterfeiting and passing counterfeit money
- crimes against places of high authority include burning down the courthouse and sheriff’s office in Sonora
- extortion
- highway robbery
- horse thievery
- illegal postal pick up
- unlawfully drawing salary and living allowances from the Union Army
- receiving stolen goods
- robbery
- robbing an unknown number of post offices
- selling stolen goods
- supplying Indians with firearms
- theft of sacred objects
- using marked cards and loaded dice
- derailing a train in order to rob the passengers
Violent Crimes
- murder
- kidnapping
- assaulting a Justice of the Peace
- raping a virgin of the white race
- statutory rape of a minor of the black race
- intention of selling fugitive slaves
Crimes against civil order
- bigamy
- deserting his wife and children
- hired himself out as guide on a wagon train, after receiving his payment in advance, he deserted the wagon train in the hunting grounds of the Sioux Indians
- inciting prostitution
- misrepresenting himself as a Mexican general
- perjury
- promoting prostitution
Source 1:
Wanted in fourteen counties of this State, the condemned is found guilty of murder, armed robbery of citizens, state banks, and post offices; the theft of sacred objects, arson in a state prison, perjury, bigamy, deserting his wife and children, inciting prostitution, kidnapping, extortion, receiving stolen goods, selling stolen goods, passing counterfeit money, and contrary to the laws of this State the condemned is guilty of using marked cards and loaded dice…and
Wanted in fifteen counties, standing before us, ah, sitting before us, Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez, has been found guilty by the District Circuit Court of the following crimes: murder, assaulting a Justice of the Peace, raping a virgin of the white race, statutory rape of a minor of the black race, derailing a train in order to rob the passengers, … robbery, highway robbery, robbing an unknown number of post offices, breaking out of a …, counterfeiting and passing counterfeit money, and the accused… promoting prostitution …high places of authority… illegal postal pick up… intention of selling black fugitive slaves… the sheriff in Sonora… hired himself out as guide on a wagon train, after receiving his payment in advance, he deserted the wagon train in the hunting grounds of the Sioux Indians… misrepresenting himself as a Mexican general in order to receive a salary and living allowance from the Union Army…Also references:
….wanted in fourteen counties of this state, the condemned is found guilty of crimes of murder, armed robbery of citizens, state banks and post offices; the theft of sacred objects, arson in a state prison, perjury, bigamy, deserting his wife and children, inciting prostitution, kidnapping, extortion, receiving stolen goods, selling stolen goods, passing counterfeit money and contrary to the laws of this state the condemned is guilty of using marked cards and loaded dice. Therefore, according to the powers vested in us, we sentence the accused before us, Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez and any other aliases he might have, to hang by the neck until dead….may god have mercy on his soul….proceed.and
….wanted in fifteen counties of this state, the condemned standing before us…sitting before us…Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez has been found guilty by the third district circuit court of the following crimes: Murder, assaulting a justice of the peace, raping a virgin of the white race, statuatory rape of a minor of the black race…derailing a train in order to rob the passengers, bank robbery, highway robbery, robbing an unknown number of Post Offices, breaking out of the state prison, using marked cards and loaded dice, promoting prostitution, blackmail, intention of selling fugitive slaves, and counterfeiting. Crimes against places of high authority include burning down the courthouse and sheriff’s office in Sonora. The accused is also guilty of cattle rustling, horse thievery, supplying Indians with firearms…misrepresenting himself as a Mexican General, unlawfully drawing salarly and living allowances from the Union Army. For all these crimes the accused has made a full and spontaneous confession. Therefore we condemn him to be hung by the neck until dead….may the lord have mercy on his soul….proceed.Source 2:
…wanted in counties of this state…and
…the condemned is found guilty of the crimes of murder, armed robbery…
…of citizens, state banks, and post offices…
…the theft of sacred objects, arson in a state prison…
…perjury, bigamy, deserting his wife and children…
…inciting prostitution, kidnapping, extortion…
…receiving stolen goods, selling stolen goods…
…passing counterfeit money, and contrary to the laws of this state…
…the condemned is guilty of using…
Therefore, according to the powers vested in us…
…we sentence the accused here before us…
…Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez…
…known as the “Rat”…
…and any other aliases he might have…
…to hang by the neck until dead.
Wanted in counties of this state…
…the condemned, standing before us… sitting before us…
…Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez…
…has been found guilty by the Third District Circuit Court…
…of the following crimes: Murder, assaulting a justice of the peace…
…raping a virgin of the white race…
…and statutory rape of a minor of the black race…
…of derailing a train in order to rob the passengers…
Why Does JPMorgan Still Have A Banking License?
Bob Lerner Robert Kennedy at a drive-in Spring 1960
"John F. Kennedy's 1960 Democratic presidential nomination campaign in Bluefield, West Virginia"
"John F. Kennedy's 1960 Democratic presidential nomination campaign in Bluefield, West Virginia"
I was, well, still am, reading up on the latest developments in the wonderful world of Libor, and the name JPMorgan pops up a lot in connection with all that. There's of course the recent -probably still tentative - $13 billion settlement with the US Justice Department. Seeing all the separate cases that have either been settled or are under active investigation in which JP Morgan is mentioned, along with a couple small lists in the WaPo And HuffPo, I figured it might be a good idea to make a more complete list (though I have no doubt I could make it twice as long) of actually investigated cases America's largest bank is a part of.
JPMorgan's total assets amount to $2.509 trillion, its derivatives exposure is $70-$80 trillion, and it's certainly too big to fail and systemically important. But seeing a list like this, how can anyone not wonder that if this is what the system depends on, the system itself is so rotten we need to get rid of it? I mean, what does it take, a modern day version of the Untouchables? Not that I think they'd get JPMorgan for tax evasion, mind you. But right now, nobody gets them for anything at all, except for a few billion here and there in fines that the perpetrators themselves don't even get to pay. The $13 billion settlement is only just over a third of what JPMorgan is spending on lawyers to defend itself and it executives.
Or, as Katrina vanden Heuvel puts it in the Washington Post:
Jamie Dimon will pay the fines with other people’s money — that of his shareholders. Neither he nor his officers who made out like bandits from their fraudulent practices are asked to chip in a dime. In fact, the $13 billion is itself something of a put-on. Only $9 billion is in cash, and much of that may well be tax-deductible, meaning taxpayers will get part of the bill. Four billion dollars is in “mortgage relief,” which the banks have been notoriously successful in gaming, providing “relief” by discarding underwater mortgages, “allowing” homeowners to do a short-sale that costs them their homes.
Here's my list. JPMorgan has already paid billions to settle charges, and in many cases faces ongoing investigations, for:
(1) Manipulating the market in the London Whale trading debacle
(4) Bilking credit card holders by fixing prices and interest rates The bank said it will pay about $1.2 billion to settle charges that it conspired with MasterCard and Visa to rig credit-card swipe fees.
(8) Enron - The bank and some of its executives are still being sued over the bank's relationship with the fraud-based energy giant, more than a decade after its failure
(9) Aiding and abetting Bernie Madoff's Ponzi ; the Madoff bankruptcy trustee and others have also sued the bank to get back some Madoff clients' money
(10) Its relationship with failed brokerage firm MF Global ; it is also being sued for allegedly aiding and abetting MF Global misuse of customer money.
(12) Allegations that it knowingly sold faulty US mortgage securities ; after [direct discussions between the bank’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon, and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.], JPMorgan reached a tentative agreement with the Justice Department to pay a record $13 billion
(13) Manipulating EURIBOR (and yen Libor) rates , in a case in which the EU's Competition Commission is set to impose up to €5 billion in fines to a group of at least 6 banks
(14) Manipulating WM/Reuters rates ; JPMorgan is one of 7 banks that have confirmed investigators in the U.S. and Europe are investigating their foreign exchange trading and manipulating of WM/Reuters rates (an industry-wide standard used in determining closing prices in the $5.3 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market, published hourly for 160 currencies and half-hourly for the 21 most-traded. )
(15) Manipulating Libor rates In the bank's own words in 2012: "JPMorgan Chase has received subpoenas and requests for documents and, in some cases, interviews, from the DOJ, CFTC, SEC, European Commission, UK Financial Services Authority, Canadian Competition Bureau, Swiss Competition Commission and other regulatory authorities and banking associations around the world."
(16) In a separate case: Colluding to artificially lower the Libor rate ; between 2007 and 2010, in legal action brought by US mortgage provider Fannie Mae, which alleges that the collusion led it to lose money on interest rate swaps, mortgages and mortgage-backed securities, with a $332 million loss just from interest rate swaps. Fannie seeks to recoup $800 million.
My guess is that should be more than enough to revoke JPMorgan's banking license, at least temporarily. Instead, the bank keep posting huge profits and the executives involved in all these cases keep receiving huge bonuses. Of course there are people honestly trying to hold Jamie Dimon and his gang responsible for their actions. But as long as they can't be simply put out of business, as anyone in just about any other sort of business would, it's not much use. Fines and settlements are a waste of time and money if someone else winds up paying them. And what does it say about America if it feels that it must let these guys get away with everything and anything? In my mind's eye, I see one of those typical endings to an old John Ford western, with both the spirit and the rule of law riding off into the sunset.
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