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Despite evidence of wrongdoing, the U.S. Department of Justice has
allowed the bank to avoid prosecution and pay a $1.9 billion fine. No
top HSBC officials will face charges, either. We’re joined by Rolling
Stone contributing editor Matt Taibbi, author of "Griftopia: A Story of
Bankers, Politicians, and the Most Audacious Power Grab in American
History." "You can do real time in jail in America for all kinds of
ridiculous offenses," Taibbi says. "Here we have a bank that laundered
$800 million of drug money, and they can’t find a way to put anybody in
jail for that. That sends an incredible message, not just to the financial
sector but to everybody. It’s an obvious, clear double standard, where one
set of people gets to break the rules as much as they want and another set
of people can’t break any rules at all without going to jail."
Amy Goodman: For more on the latest bank scandals, we’re joined
by Taibbi. Now, how did Forbes put it, Matt? "What’s a bank got to do to
get into some real trouble around here?"
MATT TAIBBI: Exactly, exactly. And what’s amazing about that is
that’s Forbessaying that. I mean, universally, the reaction, even in—
among the financial press, which is normally very bank-friendly and gives
all these guys the benefit of the doubt, the reaction is, is "What do you
have to do to get a criminal indictment?" What HSBC has now admitted to
is, more or less, the worst behavior that a bank can possibly be guilty of.
You know, they violated the Trading with the Enemy Act, the Bank
Secrecy Act. And we’re talking about massive amounts of money. It was
$9 billion that they failed to supervise properly. These crimes were so
obvious that apparently the cartels in Mexico specifically designed boxes
to put cash in so that they would fit through the windows of HSBC teller
windows. So, it was so out in the open, these crimes, and there’s going to
be no criminal prosecution whatsoever, which is incredible.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And emails found where bank officials were
instructing officials in Iran and in some other countries at how best to hide
their efforts to move money into their system?
MATT TAIBBI: Exactly, yeah, and that’s true at HSBC, and
apparently we have a very similar scandal involving another British bank,
Standard Chartered, which also paid an enormous fine recently for