CAPITALISM'S ACHILLES HEEL Dirty Money and How to

178 CAPITALISM’S ACHILLES HEEL
2001, with support from Senators Grassley, Sarbanes, Nelson, Kyl, and
DeWine.
Within weeks of the terrorists’ attacks it was well understood that the
terrorists “left a long paper trail of bank accounts, credit cards and money
transfers showing that they used the ordinary banking system with little
scrutiny.” 19 As the Patriot Act laying out legislation for the fight against terrorism
was being formulated, Senator Levin and others insisted that their
anti–money laundering provisions must be included.
This deeply concerned, if not angered, the American Bankers Association
and particularly its largest New York members, including Citigroup
and J.P. Morgan Chase. How could anyone think that money had anything
to do with 9/11? Led by Citigroup, a lobbying effort was mounted
to abort or dilute the threatening legislation. As the Washington Post reported
at the time:
Some of the nation’s largest banks—including Citigroup and JP Morgan
Chase—are lobbying to change key provisions of proposed money
laundering legislation. ... The legislation is intended to make it easier
for federal authorities to detect and dismantle the financial networks of
global terrorists, drug dealers and other criminals. ... Sens. Carl M.
Levin (D-Mich.) and Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) . . . criticized . . .
what they described as efforts by industry to water down the bill. They
said any terrorism bill that lacks comprehensive money-laundering provisions
would, in Levin’s words, “have no teeth” and could subjugate national
security interests to those of big business. ... “They are being
unpatriotic in their approach,” said Grassley, . . . referring to industry
lobbyists. 20
“Unpatriotic.” “Subjugate national security interests to those of big
business.” These words were more than mere political posturing; they were
an indictment of an industry seen to be unpersuaded and unmoved by the
events of September 11.
The banks reportedly sought to:
• Uncouple the anti–money laundering proposals from the Patriot Act,
so that anti–money laundering could be fought separately and hopefully
killed.