Wikileaks Next Target: "A Big US Bank"

[Lucille]

Zerohedge:

Wikileaks Next Target: "A Big US Bank" (http://www.zerohedge.com/article/wikileaks-next-target-big-us-bank)


Honest distributor of leaked data or a clever PsyOps front, one can not deny that whatever it is, Wikileaks does share some unique information with the world (as to how it is interpreted is a different story). Yet for the most part, the bulk of the organization's recent exposures have focused on the US military and away from the private sector, and thus away from that which is really important in today's world: money (of a paper representation thereof). Which is we read with interest in the latest Julian Assange interview with Forbes' Andy Greenberg that next on the docket of Wikileaks disclosure is not some facebooky look into the gossip world of international espionage or the foreign service, but something far more tangible and relevant: "A Big US Bank."
[...]
While we refuse to pass judgment on Assange's character, and his motivations, it appears that he may have finally figured out that to enact change in a country, you have to go not after the politicians or even the military industrial complex. After all both of those are puppets for the moneyed interests. One has to go after the very heart of the financial oligarchy. Money always has made the world go round, never more so than in the US currently. Perhaps Assange can redeem himself of all attacks on his persona if he does succeed in disclosing something that is beyond mere watercooler talk and actually leads to at least one major prosecution. After all, the US' own regulatory and enforcement mechanisms are corrupt beyond repair, and completely unable to do so on their own...

Denninger: Wikileaks: It Could Take Down a Bank Or Two (http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=173523)


If you were wondering why there's a sudden desire to shut these guys down, after they "leaked" all sorts of information about the Iraq and Afghanistan war - including classified material, which drew nothing other than "outrage" - well, now you know.

They're after some banks.

(Gee Eric Holder, why is it that you can't go after some banks? I know, it's a rhetorical question and has a simple answer - you and Obama, along with Congress, are too busy blowing their executives.)

[Ethek]

You have to get the rot out of the system for prosperity to return.

[phx420]

nothing to see here

[low preference guy]

geez, if true, Assange is in real danger now. hope he makes it.

[Dr.3D]

Who wants to bet it's either JP Morgan or Goldman Sachs?

[Sentient Void]

Betya it's either CitiGroup, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, or BoA

[cswake]

Direct article:
http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2010/11/29/an-interview-with-wikileaks-julian-assange/

Interesting other quotes:

Regulation: Is that what you’re after?

I’m not a big fan of regulation: anyone who likes freedom of the press can’t be. But there are some abuses that should be regulated, and this is one.

WikiLeaks means it’s easier to run a good business and harder to run a bad business, and all CEOs should be encouraged by this. I think about the case in China where milk powder companies started cutting the protein in milk powder with plastics. That happened at a number of separate manufacturers.

Would you call yourself a free market proponent?

Absolutely. I have mixed attitudes towards capitalism, but I love markets. Having lived and worked in many countries, I can see the tremendous vibrancy in, say, the Malaysian telecom sector compared to U.S. sector. In the U.S. everything is vertically integrated and sewn up, so you don’t have a free market. In Malaysia, you have a broad spectrum of players, and you can see the benefits for all as a result.

How do your leaks fit into that?

To put it simply, in order for there to be a market, there has to be information. A perfect market requires perfect information.

There’s the famous lemon example in the used car market. It’s hard for buyers to tell lemons from good cars, and sellers can’t get a good price, even when they have a good car.

By making it easier to see where the problems are inside of companies, we identify the lemons. That means there’s a better market for good companies. For a market to be free, people have to know who they’re dealing with.

You’ve developed a reputation as anti-establishment and anti-institution.

Not at all. Creating a well-run establishment is a difficult thing to do, and I’ve been in countries where institutions are in a state of collapse, so I understand the difficulty of running a company. Institutions don’t come from nowhere.

It’s not correct to put me in any one philosophical or economic camp, because I’ve learned from many. But one is American libertarianism, market libertarianism. So as far as markets are concerned I’m a libertarian, but I have enough expertise in politics and history to understand that a free market ends up as monopoly unless you force them to be free.

WikiLeaks is designed to make capitalism more free and ethical.

[Immortal Technique]

YouTube - Wikileaks To Release Damning Intel On A Major U.S Bank: "Like Enron Emails" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJ0wUVS5j7s)

Heres what got my attention in the Forbes interview

Excerpt:

Is it a U.S. bank?

Yes, it’s a U.S. bank.

One that still exists?

Yes, a big U.S. bank.

The biggest U.S. bank?

No comment.

[UtahApocalypse]

It's CitiGroup or Wells Fargo

[Seraphim]

Betya it's either CitiGroup, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, or BoA

Wow you really went out on a limb with that one.

I think the World Series will be won by either The Yankees, The Red Sox, The Devil Rays, The Phillies or The Cardinals.


Lol. I'm just playin' with you, but your post made me scratch my head a bit lol.

In this context you basically just said "A Republican or Democrat will become President in 2012".


Nothin' but love fo ya.

:p

[mczerone]

Betya it's either CitiGroup, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, or BoA

Isn't that like saying "I bet the roulette wheel is going to land on red or black or zero"?

[amy31416]

I wish he'd just do it and not announce it.

[phx420]

fly me to the moon, let me play among the stars

[TheState]

It’s not correct to put me in any one philosophical or economic camp, because I’ve learned from many. But one is American libertarianism, market libertarianism. So as far as markets are concerned I’m a libertarian...

Wow, I'm starting to like this guy more and more.

[Seraphim]

Isn't that like saying "I bet the roulette wheel is going to land on red or black or zero"?

You are an intellectual plagarist.


Oh shit did I just start an IP argument...? :p

I'm joking. I just said the same thing basically...last post on the first page...LOL.

[mczerone]

You are an intellectual plagarist.


Oh shit did I just start an IP argument...? :p

I'm joking. I just said the same thing basically...last post on the first page...LOL.

Yeah, but it was an independent creation! I didn't see your post before it apparently took me four minutes to read through the thread and decide to post.

Sry for the crosspost, I won't infringe on your Sacred "IP Rights". :) ;)

[eOs]

Is Assange a plumber in disguise? Who here benefits the most from all this stuff leaking? I'd say it'd have to be a plumber for sure.

[agitator]

It's CitiGroup or Wells Fargo


It's not Wells Fargo.

[Legend1104]

think it is the first national bank of meridian, ms.

[cindy25]

these mega banks have done more to spread the New York City culture nationwide than anyone except the mainstream media

hope they are brought down

[Mach]

If it's something really juicy then it doesn't matter what bank it is, it should trickle down to many others beneath them.... accomplices.

It's probably all a joke, the evidence will be thrown out as inadmissible because of it's "illegal" source... blah... blah... blah...

"They" already have all of their bases covered, before the game even begins.

[Agorism]

I hope it's Goldman and Sachs

[roho76]

It's the First National Credit Credit Union.

[Sentient Void]

ha-ha guys, verrry funny. Fair enough.

I'll make a more pointed call, then - CITIBANK.

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST! ;D

[youngbuck]

It's Bank of the West.

[Dripping Rain]

wouldnt the Federal Reserve Bank technically be a bank?

[paulitics]

It's going to be Bank of America. Bank on it. sorry, couldn't resist.

[Seraphim]

Yeah, but it was an independent creation! I didn't see your post before it apparently took me four minutes to read through the thread and decide to post.

Sry for the crosspost, I won't infringe on your Sacred "IP Rights". :) ;)

I was joking. I fuckin' hate IP nonsense.

[farrar]

The Fed is sort of a bank isn't it?

one can dream...

[inibo]

"A perfect market requires perfect information."

That made my eyebrow go up. Perhaps he's a PsyOp, perhaps not, but that is a pretty zen-like observation. If it is not something somebody fed him it is a very interesting glimpse into what could be his motivation.

His remarks about regulation are interesting as well. He seems to be saying he sees his role as regulating the governments in the way something like the SEC is supposed to be regulating Wall Street.

Who knows? Not me.

[QueenB4Liberty]

This just seems odd. So like most everything else they've leaked, other people have already known about it anyhow. SO what good is it going to do? They think telling the masses that the banks are crooks will make them angry? Newsflash, we already knew that. This had better be good.

[Baptist]

It's going to be Bank of America. Bank on it. sorry, couldn't resist.

I agree. I would love to see Goldman or JP Morgan go down. But it will probably be BofA or CITI.

[Romulus]

Now it gets interesting...

[HOLLYWOOD]

Nothing New... the government works hand in hand with Banks... especially to spy on everyone's accounts, assist in seizing assets, credit, provide details on customers. The Federal and State government work very closely together to control the serfs and slaves of this nations.

Don't let all this Banks vs .Gov Broadway show fool you.

You can look at all the revisions in the Back Secrecy Act over the decades... especially the past 10 years and it's all in favor of Grubenment. .Gov is well aware of what banks are doing and just look the other way. PARTNERS IN CRIME

[james1906]

JP Morgan Chase's government-ran seizure of Washington Mutual is widely believed to have been illegal and the result of some back room bribing and dealing. I would not be surprised if everything that happened is laid out in the open.

Either that, or Oakwood State Bank is up to some crazy shit.

[american.swan]

I don't think it's Wells Fargo. Aren't they the only bank that was in the black during all this mess? Wasn't the rumor they were forced into a bailout? Wasn't Wells Fargo pissed off at the NY banks?

I'm just guessing.

[phx420]

frankrep

[low preference guy]

I don't think it's Wells Fargo. Aren't they the only bank that was in the black during all this mess? Wasn't the rumor they were forced into a bailout? Wasn't Wells Fargo pissed off at the NY banks?

I'm just guessing.

i think that was BB&T.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2009/08/03/give-bbt-liberty-not-a-bailout-chief-says/

[libertybrewcity]

I am guessing the release will be around the end of december, early january.

[tangent4ronpaul]

I think they remained healthy through out the bail out crisis, i forgot whom merged with them.

Wachovia.

I'm going to guess it's the World Bank!

The FED would be a dream, but I'd settle for Goldman.

-t

[vita3]

Wiki already exposed a corrupt bank in Iceland, Kaupthing Bank .

[raiha]

Yippee, so when the New Great Great Depression begins in earnest, the central bankers can blame Julian Assange for the collapse.

[mello]

It would be nice if it was the Fed.

[youngbuck]

Wachovia.

I'm going to guess it's the World Bank!

The FED would be a dream, but I'd settle for Goldman.

-t

I thought of saying Wachovia, but I'm sticking with Bank of the West. ;)

[EvilEngineer]

Ehh, it wouldn't surprise me if they get some info out of the banking industry... or any industry with a data center that has vendors come in. Oddly, people are very trusting. Often vendors can get into a hardened data center with little to no screening.

A little research and you can get in basically anywhere... the best hacking is founded in social engineering.

[Brooklyn Red Leg]

It would be awesome if it were the FED, but as other said, I'd settle for Goldman-Sachs.

[CableNewsJunkie]

My bets are on BofA

[Bern]

Oooh, there's some lovely filth down here!

http://www.riskmanagementinsight.com/media/images/weblog/peasant.jpg

[Tinnuhana]

Whichever bank is holding the price of silver down??
Though the Fed would be lovely...

[eqcitizen]

It will be Goldman Sachs....trust me.

[speciallyblend]

I hope its Wells Fargo

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ not that i need any proof. I have plenty myself!! I will never Bank again because of those folks!!

[TonySutton]

This is a perfect tactic. By announcing the crime but not the criminal it puts all of the major US banks under the spotlight. It applies pressure on the regulatory agencies to do their job lest they get caught neglecting their responsibilities. It applies pressure to the banks to clean house, but the real twist could be that his mole is still in place and could be collecting more data today as the bank in questions tries to cover up their mess.

He is winding them up so we can watch them all run in circles.

[Lucille]

Via market ticker comments (http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=173523&page=4):


Wikileaks often runs into problems (http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9139180/Wikileaks_plans_to_make_the_Web_a_leakier_place) concerning how to present material and how to make it easier to sift through for vital information, said Assange.

"At the moment, for example, we are sitting on 5GB from Bank of America, one of the executive's hard drives," he said. "Now how do we present that? It's a difficult problem. We could just dump it all into one giant Zip file, but we know for a fact that has limited impact. To have impact, it needs to be easy for people to dive in and search it and get something out of it."

[armstrong]

does this mean my 401k is in trouble...:D

[Bern]

Nice find Lucille.


does this mean my 401k is in trouble...:D


...
We see a glaring example of the later when governments simply grab private property in order to pay off their own debts. We have already seen the precedent for pensions being seized by government. Just last week in Hungary the government grabbed $14 billion in private assets. Over the weekend, the Irish government decided to take 15 billion Euros from the future pensions of its citizens to give to the banks. Now France is taking 36 billion Euros from the pension fund to keep its bloated and unsustainable welfare state afloat for just a little while longer.

People need to understand that the United States is not immune to the same financial pressures that caused Hungary, Ireland and France to take these desperate measures. ...

http://jengafinance.blogspot.com/2010/11/pension-seizure-precedents.html

Oct. 2008:

Argentina seizes pension funds to pay debts. Who's next?

Here is a warning to us all. The Argentine state is taking control of the country’s privately-managed pension funds in a drastic move to raise cash.

It is a foretaste of what may happen across the world as governments discover that tax revenue, and discover that the bond markets are unwilling to plug the gap.
...

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/ambroseevans-pritchard/5504137/Argentina_seizes_pension_funds_to_pay_debts_Whos_n ext/

[romacox]

The Judge on the subject

YouTube - Judge Napolitano - WikiLeaks State Department Document Dump (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfJJbrFvF7A)

[talkingpointes]

Get the shorts on financials !!! I'm going with Citi and Bank Of America.

[RonPaulIsGreat]

My bet is Bank of America, as they had a lot of dealing in that period, having acquired Countrywide, then were strong armed by the government to acquire Merrill Lynch after their financial state was going to destroy the deal. Ken Lewis stated he wanted to back out but the fed forced the deal. As that acquisition was announced the same day lehman collapsed.

I'd love, to read that, waaaaayyy more than these diplomatic messages, as that would give dirt on the banks, and the fed.

[vita3]

Judge's stock is going up for me every day! I'm so glad he left the FOX radio show with that shallow neo-con talking point, Brian Killmoode

[ravedown]

wait..what was the judge referring to when he mention $57 million? i hadn't heard that detail before...someone in Afghanistan was paid cash? any info on this?

[Fredom101]

I disagree with Judge Nap. Nobody should be prosecuted!
Stealing? Give me a break. Even the Judge admitted that ALL taxes are theft! This means that the government steals to prop up its very existence. Stealing top secret documents I hardly see as a crime.

[vita3]

ravedown,

The VP of afghanistan, Ahmad Zia Massoud, took $50 Million with him to Dubai..

Looks like Bank of America is being targeted

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AT40520101130

[Romulus]

ravedown,

The VP of afghanistan, Ahmad Zia Massoud, took $50 Million with him to Dubai..

Looks like Bank of America is being targeted

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AT40520101130

My guess is nothing will come of this at all.... unless a big fish smells blood in the water and tries to takeover BofA.

[Vessol]

Assange has balls of steel if he plans to attack their money. Go after anything else, but when you attack their money..good luck.

[mello]

Does anyone know what kind of ratings FreedomWatch is getting? Just curious. ;)

[LudwigVonMisoSoup]

BoA would likely be the culprit, and they are far removed from the Vampire Squid and JPMorgan. I want leaks on those banks as well as the Fed.

[devil21]

Local media here in Charlotte is reporting that BoA was specifically named by Assange during his Forbes interview. I saw the article earlier but can't seem to find it anymore.

edit: here it is. It's been edited numerous times in the last couple hours. They have REMOVED the reference to BoA specifically. IT WAS THERE EARLIER TODAY! They've reworded it to not specifically say it was BoA they were targeting.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/11/30/1876995/report-bank-of-america-to-be-wikileaks.html#storylink=omni_popular




Assange didn't identify the bank in the Forbes interview, but told Computerworld in October 2009 that WikiLeaks was "sitting on" five gigabytes of information from a Bank of America executive's hard drive.


"Now how do we present that? It's a difficult problem," Assange said in that interview. "We could just dump it all into one giant Zip file, but we know for a fact that has limited impact. To have impact, it needs to be easy for people to dive in and search it and get something out of it."

Bank of America issued a statement today after reports surfaced that Bank of America would be WikiLeaks' next target.

"More than a year ago WikiLeaks claimed to have the computer hard drive of a Bank of America executive," spokesman Scott Silvestri said. "Aside from the claims themselves we have no evidence that supports this assertion. We are unaware of any new claims by WikiLeaks that pertain specifically to Bank of America."

more at link

[libertybrewcity]

This could be interesting. Although, I don't think some information could bring down a US bank. It would take a lot. We had more than half of congress running to prop them up in 08.


http://blogs.forbes.com/halahtouryalai/2010/11/30/wikileaks-cant-wipe-out-a-major-bank/?boxes=HomepageFAN