Friday, July 4, 2014

WHAT IS TO BE DONE WITH BNP PARIBAS COMPLIANCE OFFICERS ?



If you were offended when I not only outed the fired senior compliance officers at BNP, but posted their photographs on my blog, then you missed the point. I see that the spin doctors have already started to apologize for them, citing the fact that compliance actually blew their whistles several times, but were ignored, in favor of what BNP management retorted were "historic" profits and relationships. That does not let the "kindly" compliance officers off the hook, my friends.

Remember, unless want to be charged, disciplined, fired, or indicted, along with greedy senior management, do not stay at a financial institution that will not follow your recommendations. It's that simple; you resign forthwith. The longer you stay at a bank violating international sanctions, or engaged in money laundering or terrorist financing, the greater the chances that you, too, will go down with the ship, when it is torpedoed by American law enforcement.

I am sorry, I have no sympathy for those highly-paid compliance officers, who allowed the bank to send wire transfers, involving sanctioned countries, into the US financial structure, with the notation:

" Do NOT list, in any case, the name of Sudanese entities, on messages transmitted to American banks, or to foreign banks installed in the US." There are worse examples in the Statement of Facts*.

These compliance officers aided and abetted massive, organized sanctions violations involving Sudan, Cuba and Iran. They belong in Federal Prison, and I trust that the Department of Justice will not bow to political pressure, and do its duty. They need felony convictions, to keep them out of the financial sector in the future. Anything less is just folly.

 Only when compliance officers genuinely fear prison will they pressure their banks to put profits behind compliance with the law. I understand "too big to fail," regarding banks, but why not charge the compliance officers who were part of the problem ?
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*http://www.justice.gov/opa/documents/paribas/statement-of-facts.pdf

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