buzzfeed--2020-09-20--China Secretly Built A Vast New Infrastructure To Imprison Muslims

China rounded up so many Muslims in Xinjiang that there wasn ’ t enough space to hold them .
Then the government started building .
This is Part 1 of a BuzzFeed News investigation .
For Part 2 , click here .
This project was supported by the Open Technology Fund , the Pulitzer Center , and the Eyebeam Center for the Future of Journalism .
China has secretly built scores of massive new prison and internment camps in the past three years , dramatically escalating its campaign against Muslim minorities even as it publicly claimed the detainees had all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these purpose-built , high-security camps — some capable of housing tens of thousands of people — signals a radical shift away from the country ’ s previous makeshift use of public buildings , like schools and retirement homes , to a vast and permanent infrastructure for mass detention .
In the most extensive investigation of China ’ s internment camp system ever done using publicly available satellite images , coupled with dozens of interviews with former detainees , BuzzFeed News identified more than 260 structures built since 2017 and bearing the hallmarks of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ least one in nearly every county in the far-west region of Xinjiang .
During that time , the investigation shows , China has established a sprawling system to detain and incarcerate hundreds of thousands of Uighurs , Kazakhs , and other Muslim minorities , in what is already the largest-scale detention of ethnic and religious minorities since World War II .
These forbidding facilities — including several built or significantly expanded within the last year — are part of the government ’ s unprecedented campaign of mass detention of more than a million @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
That year Chen Quanguo , the region ’ s top official and Communist Party boss , whom the US recently sanctioned over human rights abuses , also put Muslim minorities — more than half the region ’ s population of about 25 million — under perpetual surveillance via facial recognition cameras , cellphone tracking , checkpoints , and heavy-handed human policing .
They are also subject to many other abuses , ranging from sterilization to forced labor .
To detain thousands of people in short order , the government repurposed old schools @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the number of detainees swelled , in 2018 the government began building new facilities with far greater security measures and more permanent architectural features , such as heavy concrete walls and guard towers , the BuzzFeed News analysis shows .
Prisons often take years to build , but some of these new compounds took less than six months , according to historical satellite data .
The government has also added more factories within camp and prison compounds during that time , suggesting the expansion of forced labor within the region .
Construction was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ People are living in horror in these places , ” said 49-year-old Zhenishan Berdibek , who was detained in a camp in the Tacheng region for much of 2018 .
“ Some of the younger people were not as tolerant as us — they cried and screamed and shouted.
” But Berdibek , a cancer survivor , couldn ’ t muster the energy .
As she watched the younger women get dragged away to solitary confinement , “ I lost my hope , ” she said .
“ I wanted to die @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 268 newly built compounds by cross-referencing blanked-out areas on Baidu Maps — a Google Maps–like tool that ’ s widely used in China — with images from external satellite data providers .
These compounds often contained multiple detention facilities .
Ninety-two of these facilities have been identified or verified as detention centers by other sources , such as government procurement documents , academic research , or , in 19 cases , visits by journalists .
Another 176 facilities have been established by satellite imagery alone .
The images frequently show thick walls at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wire fencing that creates pens and corridors in the courtyards .
Many compounds in the region are walled , but the facilities identified by BuzzFeed News have much heavier fortifications .
At 121 of these compounds , they also show guard towers , often built into the perimeter wall .
In response to a detailed list of questions about this article as well as a list of GPS coordinates of facilities identified in this article , the Chinese Consulate in New York said “ the issue concerning Xinjiang is by no means about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but about combating violent terrorism and separatism , ” adding that it was a “ groundless lie ” that a million Uighurs have been detained in the region .
“ Xinjiang has set up vocational education and training centers in order to root out extreme thoughts , enhance the rule of law awareness through education , improve vocational skills and create employment opportunities for them , so that those affected by extreme and violent ideas can return to society as soon as possible , ” the consulate added , saying human rights are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trainees have freedom of movement.
” But it also compared its program to “ compulsory programs for terrorist criminals ” it said are taking place in other countries including the US and UK .
China 's Foreign Ministry and Baidu did not respond to repeated requests for comment .
The new facilities are scattered across every populated area of the region , and several are large enough to accommodate 10,000 prisoners at a minimum , based on their size and architectural features .
( One of the reporters on this story is a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the new facilities appear more permanent and prisonlike , similar in construction to high-security prisons in other parts of China .
The most highly fortified compounds offer little space between buildings , tiny concrete-walled yards , heavy masonry construction , and long networks of corridors with cells down either side .
Their layouts are cavernous , allowing little natural light to the interior of the buildings .
BuzzFeed News could see how rooms were laid out at some high-security facilities by examining historical satellite photos taken as they were being constructed , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ With at least tens of thousands of detainees crowded into government buildings repurposed as camps by the end of 2017 , the government began building the largest new facilities in the spring of 2018 .
Several were complete by October 2018 , with further facilities built through 2019 and construction of a handful more continuing even now .
The government has said its camps are schools and vocational training centers where detainees are “ deradicalized.
” The government ’ s own internal documentation about its policies in Xinjiang has used the term “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ describe “ educational schools.
” The government claims that its campaign combats extremism in the region .
But most who end up in these facilities are not extremists of any sort .
Downloading WhatsApp , which is banned in China , maintaining ties with family abroad , engaging in prayer , and visiting a foreign website are all offenses for which Muslims have been sent to camps , according to previously leaked documents and interviews with former detainees .
Because the government does not consider internment camps to be part of the criminal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are crimes under Chinese law , no detainees have been formally arrested or charged with a crime , let alone seen a day in court .
The compounds BuzzFeed News identified likely include extrajudicial internment camps — which hold people who are not suspected of any crime — as well as prisons .
Both types of facilities have security features that closely resemble each other .
Xinjiang ’ s prison population has grown massively during the government ’ s campaign : In 2017 , the region had 21 % of all arrests in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2 % of the national population — an eightfold increase from the year before , according to a New York Times analysis of government data .
Because China ’ s Communist Party–controlled courts have a more than 99 % conviction rate , the overwhelming majority of those arrests likely resulted in convictions .
People detained in the camps told BuzzFeed News they were subjected to torture , hunger , overcrowding , solitary confinement , forced birth control , and a range of other abuses .
They said they were put through brainwashing programs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to speak only in the Chinese language .
Some former detainees said they were forced to labor without pay in factories .
The government heavily restricts the movements of independent journalists and researchers in the region , and heavily censors the internet and its own domestic media .
Muslim minorities can be punished for posts on social media .
But satellite images that are collected from independent providers remain outside the scope of Chinese government censorship .
Other kinds of evidence have also occasionally leaked out .
In September , a drone video @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their heads shaven and their arms tied behind their backs , wearing vests that say “ Kashgar Detention Center.
” Nathan Ruser , a researcher at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute who has done extensive satellite imagery analysis of the detention and prison systems in Xinjiang , said the video shows a prisoner transfer that took place in April 2019 — months after the government first said the system was for vocational training .
Previous analyses , including by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in November 2018 , identified several dozen early camps @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Xinjiang has the overall logic of colonial genocides in North America , the formalized racism of apartheid , the industrial-scale internment of Germany 's concentration camps , and the police-state penetration into everyday life of North Korea , ” said Rian Thum , a scholar of the history of Islam in China at the University of Nottingham .
The campaign has done deep damage to many Muslim minority groups — but especially Uighurs , who are by far the most populous ethnic minority group in Xinjiang and do not have ties to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has heavily penalized expressions of Turkic minority culture , from Kazakh- and Uighur-language education to the practice of Islam outside of state-controlled mosques .
This , combined with forced sterilizations , has led some critics to say that the campaign qualifies as genocide under international law .
The Trump administration is reportedly discussing whether to formally call it a genocide , and a spokesperson for Joe Biden , the Democratic nominee for president , said on Tuesday that Biden supports the label .
“ These are peaceful people in concentration camps , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who was jailed and later exiled from Xinjiang after opening kindergartens that taught Uighur children in their own language .
“ They are businessmen and scholars and engineers .
They are our musicians .
They are doctors .
They are shopkeepers , restaurant owners , teachers who used Uighur textbooks .
“ These are the pillars of our society .
Without them , we can not exist.
” Early on , the government remade schools , retirement homes , hospitals , and other public buildings into internment camps .
There were other , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ News identified 47 built before 2017 that have been used to lock people up in the region .
Some detention facilities are geared toward releasing detainees after several months ; in others , detainees may be sentenced to prison terms , said Adrian Zenz , a leading researcher on the abuses in Xinjiang .
Three former detainees interviewed by BuzzFeed News said they were held for months in detention without any charges against them — far longer than is allowed by law — before they were transferred to internment camps .
The detentions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ numbers in the camps quickly swelled until the inmates were living on top of each other .
BuzzFeed News interviewed 28 former detainees from the region , many of whom described being blindfolded and handcuffed , much like the men shown in the video .
Many spoke through an interpreter .
They are among a tiny minority of former detainees who were released and left the country — but they described a brutal system that they saw growing and changing with their own eyes .
Most recalled being frequently moved from camp to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was meant to combat overcrowding in the first generation of makeshift facilities .
At the beginning of the campaign , hundreds of people were arriving on a daily basis .
New batches of detainees always seemed to be coming and going .
Some former detainees described sleeping two to a twin bed , or even sleeping in shifts when there was not enough room to house all the detainees .
Almost all said they received meager quantities of rice , steamed buns , and porridge , and little or no meat or other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ethnic Kazakh , was first detained relatively early in the campaign , around the end of 2017 .
At first , he slept in a room with seven other men , and everyone had a bed to themselves .
But within a few months , he began to notice more and more people arriving .
“ One day I saw a pregnant woman in shackles , ” he said .
“ Another woman had a baby in her arms , she was breastfeeding.
” By February 2018 , there were 15 men in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Some of us had to share blankets or sleep on the floor , ” he said .
“ They told us later that some of us would be given prison sentences or transferred to other camps.
” Camp officials regularly forced detainees to memorize Communist Party propaganda and Chinese characters in classrooms .
But some former detainees said their facilities were too crowded for even this — instead , they had to sit on plastic stools next to their beds and stare at textbooks , sitting with their backs perfectly straight while cameras @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there were too many people to fit in classrooms .
For Koksebek , the claustrophobia was unbearable .
“ There was a window in our room , but it was so high I couldn ’ t see much other than a patch of sky , ” he said .
“ I used to wish I were a bird so I could have the freedom to fly.
” On a frigid , overcast morning last December , Shohrat Zakir , the region ’ s governor and second-most-powerful official , gave a rare press conference @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Office , located in a closed compound in central Beijing .
The office is one of only a handful of government bodies in China that regularly briefs both local and international journalists , and Zakir sat with four other officials at a long podium at the front of the small room .
The officials took the opportunity to tout the region ’ s economic growth and claim China ’ s campaign against terrorism in Xinjiang has been a success , calling the US government hypocritical for its criticism of China ’ s human @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one who made international headlines .
Of those held in the camps as “ trainees , ” Zakir painted a rosy picture .
They “ have all graduated , and have realized stable employment with the government ’ s help , improved their quality of life , and are enjoying a happy life , ” he said .
Even as reporters were scribbling down his remarks , about 2,500 miles away in Xinjiang , construction was wrapping up on a massive high-security compound near the Uighur heartland county of Shufu , just south @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a countryside dotted by livestock farms .
Shufu is small by Chinese standards , with a population of about 300,000 people .
It has a main drag with a post office , a lottery ticket vendor , and eateries selling steamed buns and beef noodle soup .
The camp was built on farmland less than a 20-minute drive away .
Before workers started construction last March , the land beneath the Shufu site was farmland too , blanketed with green vegetation .
By August , workers had built a thick perimeter enclosure , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and in the center of walls that rise nearly 6 meters , or more than 19 feet , satellite images show .
Next came the buildings inside , organized in U-shaped groups , with two five-story structures alongside a two-story one forming the base of the U .
By October , two rows of barbed wire fencing appeared on either side of the main concrete-walled compound , its shadow visible in satellite images .
Just outside the walls , on the western side of the compound , two guard buildings were built — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from them up to the wall that would allow guards to access the guard towers and the tops of the walls for patrols .
In front of the entrance , a series of buildings provided space for prison offices and police buildings .
In total BuzzFeed News estimates that there is room for approximately 10,500 prisoners at this compound — which would help provide a long-term solution to overcrowding .
Ruser reviewed satellite images of the compound and said it was a newly built detention camp .
“ The vast majority of camps @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a strong external wall entranceway or exit , ” he said .
Unlike the old , repurposed camps , new prisons and camps such as this one have higher security , with gates up to four stories tall and thicker walls along their borders , often with further layers of barbed wire on either side of the main walls .
These features suggest they are capable of holding much larger groups of people in long-term detention .
The camps can contain not only cells where detainees sleep , but also classrooms , clinics @ @ @ @ @ @ @ solitary confinement rooms , police buildings , administrative offices , and small visitor centers , former detainees told BuzzFeed News .
Many of the compounds also contain factories , distinguished by their blue , powder-coated metal roofs and steel frames , which are visible in satellite photos taken while they were being constructed .
The police buildings , including for guards and administrative personnel , are usually located by the entrances of the compounds .
The locations of these camps and prisons in Xinjiang are not readily available .
However , blanked-out portions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it possible to use satellite imagery to find and analyze them .
Satellite maps , like Google Earth , are made up of a grid of rectangular tiles .
On Baidu , the Chinese search giant that has a map service much like Google ’ s , BuzzFeed News discovered that spaces containing camps , military bases , or other politically sensitive facilities were overlaid with plain light gray tiles .
These “ mask ” tiles appeared upon zooming in on the location .
These look different from the darker gray , watermarked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ load something .
The “ mask ” tiles were also present at other locations where camps had been visited and verified by journalists , though they have since been removed .
BuzzFeed News identified the compounds using other satellite maps — provided by Google Earth , Planet Labs , and the European Space Agency ’ s Sentinel Hub — which do not mask those images .
For some locations where high-resolution images were not publicly available , Planet Labs used its own satellite to take new pictures , then provided them to BuzzFeed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this investigation was conducted .
The images showed the facilities being built over a period of months .
Details from the images offer a sense of size and scale : Counting the number of windows in building facades , for example , shows how many stories they contain .
Often , these compounds were built next door to an older prison , sharing parking lots , administrative facilities , and police barracks with the older facility , satellite images show .
BuzzFeed News found an additional 50 more compounds that were likely used @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lost some security features , including barbed wire fencing within compounds used to create rectangular pens , closed passages between buildings , and guard towers , with a small number having been demolished .
Ruser and other experts said this does not suggest the Chinese government is pulling back from its campaign .
Many of those facilities likely still operate as low-security camps , he said .
The far more important trend in Xinjiang , he said , is the government ’ s increased use of higher-security prisons and detention facilities .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in New York echoed Zakir 's December statement .
`` All trainees who received courses in standard spoken and written Chinese , understanding of the law , vocational skills , and deradicalization have completed their training , secured stable employment in the society , and are living a normal life , '' it said .
Smile lines appear on Kokteubai ’ s deeply wrinkled face when he talks about his daughter , who was born in 1992 .
She later moved to Kazakhstan , where many ethnic Kazakhs from China emigrate because of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for people of Kazakh descent .
There , she and her husband campaigned relentlessly for Kokteubai ’ s release in YouTube videos and long letters to human rights groups .
He believes his eventual release in March 2018 was due to her campaign .
Inside the camp , instead of classrooms where students like his daughter might have studied math or history , Kokteubai saw dorm rooms overcrowded with as many as 40 or 50 men each sleeping on too few bunk beds .
Though the compound itself wasn ’ t new , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as high walls and barbed wire around the compound .
And the camp was now dotted with CCTV cameras , which a guard told him could film objects as far as 200 meters away .
Another thing that was new : When you entered the gate , a huge red plaque greeted you .
“ Let ’ s learn the spirit of the 19th Communist Party Congress , ” it said .
Like Kokteubai , several former detainees interviewed by BuzzFeed News said after arriving , they recognized the facilities in which they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ driven past them , or even visited them in their previous incarnations .
But these repurposed facilities were never meant to house prisoners and were not big enough to hold all the Muslim minorities the Chinese government intended to detain .
In early 2019 , workers started clearing land to expand a camp south of Ürümqi , in a town called Dabancheng , that had become infamous after reporters from BBC and Reuters visited the year before .
The camp at Dabancheng was already one of the largest internment facilities in the region @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up to 32,500 people , according to an architectural analysis by BuzzFeed News .
Since the expansion , it is now capable of housing some 10,000 more people .
By November of last year another , separate compound had been completed , this one capable of holding a further 10,000 people — for a total capacity of more than 40,000 , comparable to the size of the town of Niagara Falls .
`` These facilities display characteristics consistent with extrajudicial detention facilities in the Xinjiang region that CSIS has previously analyzed , '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ human rights program at Washington DC-based think tank CSIS after examining the three camps referenced in this article .
The camp at Dabancheng , Ruser said , “ is the main catchment camp for Ürümqi .
It ’ s 2 km ( 1.2 miles ) long and was expanded late last year an extra kilometer with a new facility across the road to the west.
” By comparison , the camp is about half the length of Central Park .
Kokteubai never found out precisely why he was detained .
Because he ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ able to settle in Kazakhstan .
On the day he was released , he expected to feel joy , relief , something .
Instead he felt nothing at all .
“ I wasn ’ t happy or sad .
I couldn ’ t feel anything , ” he said .
“ Even when I was reunited with my relatives in Kazakhstan , they asked me why I didn ’ t seem happy to see them after so long.
” “ It ’ s something I can ’ t explain , ” he said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ feelings died while I was in there.
” ●

Ninety-two of these facilities have been identified or verified as detention centers by other sources, such as government procurement documents, academic research, or, in 19 cases, visits by journalists.
Another 176 facilities have been established by satellite imagery alone. The images frequently show thick walls at the perimeter, and often, barbed wire fencing that creates pens and corridors in the courtyards. Many compounds in the region are walled, but the facilities identified by BuzzFeed News have much heavier fortifications. At 121 of these compounds, they also show guard towers, often built into the perimeter wall.
In response to a detailed list of questions about this article as well as a list of GPS coordinates of facilities identified in this article, the Chinese Consulate in New York said “the issue concerning Xinjiang is by no means about human rights, religion or ethnicity, but about combating violent terrorism and separatism,” adding that it was a “groundless lie” that a million Uighurs have been detained in the region.
“Xinjiang has set up vocational education and training centers in order to root out extreme thoughts, enhance the rule of law awareness through education, improve vocational skills and create employment opportunities for them, so that those affected by extreme and violent ideas can return to society as soon as possible,” the consulate added, saying human rights are protected in the centers and that “trainees have freedom of movement.” But it also compared its program to “compulsory programs for terrorist criminals” it said are taking place in other countries including the US and UK.
China's Foreign Ministry and Baidu did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
The new facilities are scattered across every populated area of the region, and several are large enough to accommodate 10,000 prisoners at a minimum, based on their size and architectural features. (One of the reporters on this story is a licensed architect.)
Unlike early sites, the new facilities appear more permanent and prisonlike, similar in construction to high-security prisons in other parts of China. The most highly fortified compounds offer little space between buildings, tiny concrete-walled yards, heavy masonry construction, and long networks of corridors with cells down either side. Their layouts are cavernous, allowing little natural light to the interior of the buildings. BuzzFeed News could see how rooms were laid out at some high-security facilities by examining historical satellite photos taken as they were being constructed, including photos of buildings without roofs.
With at least tens of thousands of detainees crowded into government buildings repurposed as camps by the end of 2017, the government began building the largest new facilities in the spring of 2018. Several were complete by October 2018, with further facilities built through 2019 and construction of a handful more continuing even now.
The government has said its camps are schools and vocational training centers where detainees are “deradicalized.” The government’s own internal documentation about its policies in Xinjiang has used the term “concentration,” or 集中, to describe “educational schools.”
The government claims that its campaign combats extremism in the region. But most who end up in these facilities are not extremists of any sort.
Downloading WhatsApp, which is banned in China, maintaining ties with family abroad, engaging in prayer, and visiting a foreign website are all offenses for which Muslims have been sent to camps, according to previously leaked documents and interviews with former detainees. Because the government does not consider internment camps to be part of the criminal justice system and none of these behaviors are crimes under Chinese law, no detainees have been formally arrested or charged with a crime, let alone seen a day in court.
The compounds BuzzFeed News identified likely include extrajudicial internment camps — which hold people who are not suspected of any crime — as well as prisons. Both types of facilities have security features that closely resemble each other. Xinjiang’s prison population has grown massively during the government’s campaign: In 2017, the region had 21% of all arrests in China, despite making up less than 2% of the national population — an eightfold increase from the year before, according to a New York Times analysis of government data. Because China’s Communist Party–controlled courts have a more than 99% conviction rate, the overwhelming majority of those arrests likely resulted in convictions.


buzzfeed--2020-09-22--I Tried Cannabis Mints For The First Time, And Yup, I'm A Fan Now

These are great !
If you 're a fan of cannabis products , you 'll probably dig these .
If @ @ @ @ @ your palate after a particularly garlic-heavy meal , there are obviously stronger ( and cheaper @ @ @ @ @ .
However , if you 're looking to get `` the perfect microdose experience , @ @ @ @ @ .
I could see myself using these on occasion , especially since they 're handy @ @ @ @ @ their cleverly designed , airtight tin .

So, what did they taste like? Just like they smelled...like candy canes.
The mints were sweet and mildly pepperminty — there are definitely "stronger" mints out there, so this seemed like more of a palate refresher than a true breath mint. However, if I didn't know these were cannabis-based, I would never have guessed.


buzzfeed--2020-09-22--14 Things You Probably Won't Understand If You're A Healthy Pooper

Waiting patiently for a poop you 're sure is going to come , only for it to stand you up @ @ @ @ @

BuzzFeed Bring Me
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buzzfeed--2020-09-22--8 Women On Why They Went To The Supreme Court Vigils After Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Death

In the days since the justice 's death , people have placed flowers and candles outside the Supreme Court building .
WASHINGTON — In the wake of the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg , a pillar of the women ’ s rights movement , on Friday night the United States Supreme Court building was transformed into a memorial .
By the third night , the signs and the flowers had begun to circle the block , and the chalk messages were everywhere underfoot .
A man blew a shofar , the ram ’ s horn that is the hallmark @ @ @ @ @ @ @ father and his young daughter stopped to say goodbye on their way back from soccer practice , her cleats clicking on the pavement .
There were prayers , candles , offerings of lace collars , and women sobbing in each other ’ s arms There were signs calling for revolution and signs calling Mitch McConnell a bitch .
For many of the women who came to the foot of the court ’ s white marble steps , Ginsburg ’ s death stirred anxiety and hopelessness in an already dark and fearful year .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ felt as much like a place of inspiration and action as one of mourning .
De Herman had not heard until Friday night , when Ginsburg died , of the tradition in her faith that Jews who die on the new year are tzaddik — people of great righteousness .
As she stood at the memorial Sunday , the thought of it made tears swim in her eyes .
Ginsburg “ was clearly one of those , ” Herman said .
“ I can ’ t quantify the gifts that she gave of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a while outside the memorial , Herman stood weeping and holding her partner , wrapped in a long rainbow coat and a yellow mask .
Earlier that day , Herman said , she ’ d spoken to some of her “ grief-struck ” women friends about Ginsburg .
Some were afraid .
All of them were worried .
“ Also , though , this could be a great catalyst for the kind of action that we all need to take if we ’ re all going to make a difference , ” Herman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ environmentalist , and a lot of the time I spend on climate activism , and I feel like ... if we ’ re going to get our shit together , this is an existential crisis we ’ re in.
” She added , “ I think that it ’ s the voices of women , and the empowerment of women , that ’ s going to drive healing work around this.
” Cathy Stanley and Angela Mauney were here just a few weeks ago , in the shadow of the Capitol , to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ icons , Rep. John Lewis .
This year , Stanley said , has just been too much .
“ It feels like they were kindred spirits , ” Mauney said of Lewis and Ginsburg .
“ Their journey ended in the same year.
” At Ginsburg ’ s memorial , Stanley stood before a sign painted with a quote of the justice ’ s : “ I ask no favor for my sex ; all I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.
” “ That translates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lot of different reasons , ” Stanley said .
As Black women , as fiancés , Stanley and Mauney felt they owed a lot in their lives to Ginsburg ’ s battles for equality .
“ I mean , we wouldn ’ t be able to get married , ” Mauney said .
She turned to Stanley , held out a hand , and told her , “ Show your ring.
” “ We wanted to come down here and pay her some respect and homage , and let her know that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with her passing , ” said Stanley .
“ We hope she ’ s fighting still when she reaches heaven.
” Rebecca Durango stood stock-still and silent in front of the court , her hands gripping her bicycle , tears in her eyes .
For the past few days , she said , since she heard the news of Ginsburg ’ s death , she had felt hopeless .
“ I felt really empty , ” she said .
“ Just because I felt like , knowing she was alive was a comforting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ felt like a rug was pulled out from underneath me , like a safety net wasn ’ t there .
I felt pretty defeated.
” Durango was in Washington , DC , to study politics as a graduate student , and Ginsburg ’ s legacy moved her .
“ For some reason I felt very , very connected to her , ” Durango said .
“ Learning about the work she did , it felt like she did it for me , not even knowing who I am or who anyone else is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Being at the Supreme Court building on Sunday among other mourners and the vast array of tokens they had left behind , had helped Durango , she said .
“ It makes me feel a little less hopeless .
A little hopeful.
” “ I ’ ve been trying to look at it as a sign that we need to be doing more , and that we need to honor her and do everything she ’ s done , ” she said .
“ It ’ s hard to feel this way @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so disheartened , and at the same time have to keep pushing .
A lot of us are running on empty , but we owe it to her.
” Sarah Moorehouse is a student at Tufts University but was visiting DC for an intelligence briefing when she learned of Ginsburg ’ s death .
On Saturday evening , Moorehouse , 25 , headed to the Supreme Court building with a sign she ’ d made for a 2017 rally in New York City and had traveled from Boston to DC with .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But fright , more than fight , is what she conveyed during a short interview .
“ I 'm scared as a woman , ” Moorehouse said .
“ I 'm scared as a queer woman .
And I 'm scared for my brothers and sisters , who are like me , my brothers and sisters of color , and every minority in this country.
” For Karen Toles , a student at the University of Baltimore School of Law , it ’ s the hypocrisy of Republicans in the Senate that drove @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the friend who joined her , Mahasin El Amin , have both served in local government in Prince George ’ s County in Maryland ; their biggest concern upon hearing of Ginsburg ’ s death was what would become of the Voting Rights Act .
“ We just have to keep fighting .
We have to storm the Capitol if they decide to bring a vote , ” Toles said .
“ Fair is fair .
You did n't let President Barack Obama do it , you should not let this guy… @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” she said , referring to Trump .
Tiffany Thompson and four of her neighbors , who ’ ve been weathering the pandemic together in the same DC apartment building , had their own mini vigil inside the larger one outside the Supreme Court building .
They placed red tealight candles on top of a maintenance hole cover and for an hour and a half remembered Ginsburg and tried to come up with a plan for what to do next .
“ First and foremost for me is LGBTQ rights , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police my own body .
But , you know , I mean , it 's all of the above , ” Thompson , 34 , said .
“ It 's terrifying .
The whole situation is very scary .
”

WASHINGTON — In the wake of the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a pillar of the women’s rights movement, on Friday night the United States Supreme Court building was transformed into a memorial.
By the third night, the signs and the flowers had begun to circle the block, and the chalk messages were everywhere underfoot. A man blew a shofar, the ram’s horn that is the hallmark of the Jewish New Year. A father and his young daughter stopped to say goodbye on their way back from soccer practice, her cleats clicking on the pavement. There were prayers, candles, offerings of lace collars, and women sobbing in each other’s arms. There were signs calling for revolution and signs calling Mitch McConnell a bitch.
For many of the women who came to the foot of the court’s white marble steps, Ginsburg’s death stirred anxiety and hopelessness in an already dark and fearful year. But they also said that the memorial felt as much like a place of inspiration and action as one of mourning.


buzzfeed--2020-09-22--HSBC's Secret Files: The Inside Tale Of What Happened After It Apologized For Being Dirty

From the FinCEN Files investigation : Secret documents show how one of the world ’ s biggest banks kept doing business with companies that its own employees raised red flags about .
It sure seemed like the wild days were coming to an end .
HSBC , Europe ’ s largest bank , had just been caught allowing a network of drug kingpins , including the notorious Joaquín “ El Chapo ” Guzmán , to launder more than $ 880 million through its accounts .
And it had brazenly done business in off-limits countries such as Sudan and Myanmar .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the US Department of Justice granted it : Admit your guilt , pay $ 1.9 billion in fines , and submit to an independent monitor .
And so HSBC ’ s new era began , with the arrival of a sprawling team of outside investigators to make sure the bank was cleaning up its act .
It was the most high-profile case against a bank in a decade , and the government declared that the arrangement it had put in place , known as a deferred prosecution agreement , would make HSBC @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t , it could face criminal charges .
The FinCEN Files investigation — based , in part , on thousands of secret Treasury Department documents — reveals that HSBC ’ s promises were hollow , and so was the government ’ s threat .
Even under the most intensive scrutiny , the bank continued to facilitate and profit from transactions it suspected were dirty .
At the end of the monitor ’ s five-year tenure , he said HSBC had made progress , but the bank itself acknowledged to shareholders that he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ managing financial crime risk.
” Yet no criminal charges ensued .
In fact , the government announced that HSBC had “ complied with their obligations.
” The inside tale of what happened at HSBC , told here for the first time , underscores how toothless deferred prosecution agreements really are .
The records show that the bank continued to do business with companies that its own employees raised red flags about .
Vida Panamá , owned by Panama ’ s powerful Waked family , used the bank to exchange $ 292 million in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it a money laundering organization that washed funds for narco kingpins .
An attorney for the family , Yasser Williams , told BuzzFeed News the business was legitimate , and the Wakeds plan to fight Treasury ’ s designation .
A Turkish financial consultant made 124 suspicious transactions in 2015 and 2016 , including a wire transfer to a California electronics company accused by the Justice Department of laundering cash for the Norte del Valle drug cartel .
The California company did not respond to a detailed message .
And the bank flouted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ financial institutions in Transnistria , a breakaway republic in Moldova known as a haven for financial crime .
The confidential files , shared by BuzzFeed News with the more than 100 partner newsrooms of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists ( ICIJ ) , contain 70 of the suspicious activity reports , or SARs , that HSBC submitted during the five-year period it was under the eye of the monitor .
Such documents , sent to the Treasury Department ’ s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network , or FinCEN , flag transactions that have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are not by themselves evidence of a crime , but they can support investigations and intelligence gathering .
The FinCEN Files investigation — which also included internal bank records and firsthand accounts of people inside the bank and familiar with the monitor ’ s examination — found numerous fronts on which the bank fell short .
Outside the US , local regulators tried to brush off the monitor ’ s staff or warned them not to ask uncomfortable questions .
Despite bringing on more than a dozen US and UK government officials — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on to serve as FBI director , and Bob Werner , who had overseen the Treasury Department ’ s efforts to enforce sanctions — HSBC failed to resolve shortcomings the monitor identified in anti–money laundering procedures .
Meanwhile , to improve computer security measures , HSBC brought on consultants remembered by a colleague more for their partying than their work ethic .
During the past decade , the government has relied on deferred prosecution agreements as its main strategy to fight high-level corporate crime .
`` Through those agreements , we can often @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even more than , we could from a criminal conviction , ” said Leslie Caldwell , the former head of the Justice Department 's criminal division , at an anti–money laundering conference in 2015 .
But instead of accomplishing real change , the Justice Department ’ s approach has produced an ineffective cycle of accusations and inaction , apologies and broken promises — and yet more deferred prosecution agreements .
Nowhere is that more clear than the case of HSBC .
The monitors installed by the Department of Justice to evaluate banks often @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Michael Cherkasky , who led the team overseeing HSBC , is a former prosecutor who brought mob boss John Gotti to trial .
But monitors are not law enforcement officials .
They are independent overseers , and they are paid by the banks , not the government .
What ’ s more , the banks have substantial influence over which monitor gets the job : A bank typically proposes three candidates , from which the government chooses one .
So , critics say , the monitors are beholden to the very industry they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ powers are weak .
Monitors can request bank records and try to interview employees , but they don ’ t have the power to make anyone cooperate .
If the bank doesn ’ t comply , the monitor can ’ t bring criminal charges or put the bank out of business by revoking its charter — nor can it assume that law enforcement authorities will do so .
And the banks know it .
“ It was in the air that everyone felt like it was a joke , ” said Christina Rea @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s Manhattan office .
“ The sentiment that was coming from the top down wasn ’ t ‘ Oh , we don ’ t want to get our charter revoked.
’ It was ‘ Make it look like we ’ re doing more.
’ ” At most , she said , the message was “ you had to sit up a little bit straighter.
” Elise Bean , the Senate staffer who led the congressional probe into HSBC , initially supported the record fine against the bank .
“ I thought imposing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and giving the bank a chance to change might work , '' said Bean .
`` But when the Justice Department , backed by the courts , became very secretive about what the monitor was finding at HSBC , that was the death knell .
Secret oversight and secret reports don ’ t produce meaningful change.
” HSBC , like other banks , is barred from discussing or even acknowledging the existence of SARs .
A spokesperson would not answer detailed questions , but said the events in question took place in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ met the obligations of its agreements with the government .
“ HSBC is a much safer institution than it was in 2012 , ” said spokesperson Heidi Ashley .
Wearing a white linen suit and a white shirt open at the neck , Phil Ming Xu spoke to potential investors from a conference room stage .
He quoted from Proverbs 29:18 : “ Where there is no vision , the people perish.
” Xu promised he had the vision .
All he needed from the crowd was their faith — and their money @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and his associates were trumpeting a unique investment opportunity — membership units for cloud space storing video and music — that would not only bring a 100 % return in the first 100 days , but also “ glorify God.
” People handed over piles of money .
But rather than build a cloud computing network , Xu ’ s associates bought two golf courses for $ 8 million and a 7,000-square-foot luxury home for $ 2.4 million , all with cash .
He sent $ 1.3 million to a jeweler to buy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sierra Leone .
The FinCEN Files reveal that HSBC itself was aware of allegations that its customer , Xu , was running a Ponzi scheme — and even documented that awareness in SARs that it filed to FinCEN .
The government shelved those reports and HSBC continued to profit from these transactions , while thousands of people , predominantly Asian and Latino immigrants , lost their shirts .
In 2013 , California sent a subpoena to HSBC about Xu ’ s company .
The bank ’ s legal department replied that it was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the information stated on the subpoena.
” Yet a mere four weeks later , HSBC filed the first of at least three suspicious activity reports about Xu and his company , WCM777 .
( The name stood for World Cloud Media and the supposedly divine number of triple seven . )
In Malta , a small island nation with a large HSBC presence , a key employee told Cherkasky ’ s investigators that he was too scared to talk because he had received a death threat before his interview .
And in Sri @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was made to promise the bank it wouldn ’ t look into the accounts of the many politicians who used its services , according to a source familiar with the matter .
Even then , government ministers wouldn ’ t respond to visa requests .
First , the monitor was told the official in charge of their trip was on holiday .
Then that person was ill .
Eventually , Cherkasky ’ s team moved on .
In China , one of the members of the monitor ’ s team was asleep in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a knock at the door .
In the hallway stood local law enforcement agents who wouldn ’ t give their names .
They interrogated him about what he intended to do in China .
To Cherkasky ’ s group , it was an intimidation tactic .
The bank first opened its doors in Hong Kong in 1865 , as the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation , to finance trade between Europe and Asia .
The region still accounts for two-thirds of HSBC ’ s profits .
The bank is so deeply interwoven with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its headquarters are a kind of landmark , where passersby pat the paws of its distinctive lion statues for good luck .
When the monitor ’ s team arrived there , it met layers of resistance .
Two people familiar with the conversation recalled that HSBC ’ s former general counsel Stuart Levey told Cherkasky that China was one of its “ emerging markets , ” and that as a result the bank ’ s operations there weren ’ t ready for an intensive review .
Levey did not comment for this article @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sources said , that in China and Hong Kong , government ministers and bank employees alike were offended that a group of Americans would expect access to HSBC ’ s books .
Those sources recalled a circumstance they said happened often : The monitor ’ s team expected to interview an HSBC employee , only to be notified that the person was unavailable because they had been summoned away at the last moment .
A contractor who was not a part of the monitor ’ s team , but who was sent to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s anti–money laundering programs , recalled arriving at the bank ’ s skyscraper overlooking Victoria Harbor .
The contractor was made to sit in the lobby for nearly an hour before being allowed upstairs .
Inside the office , staff members wouldn ’ t turn over the data that was supposed to be under review .
They suggested getting out to see the city instead .
“ They basically told me to fuck off and go shopping , ” the contractor said .
All the while , the bank was waving through @ @ @ @ @ @ @ financial transactions .
The FinCEN Files show that people in HSBC ’ s US compliance office — the department charged with making sure the bank follows anti–money laundering laws — filed reports identifying more than $ 2 billion in transactions through the company ’ s Hong Kong subsidiary that bore the hallmarks of possible criminal activity .
This was happening while HSBC was under the supposedly tough scrutiny of the monitor , but the government took no action .
HSBC 's own reports cited the same targets again and again for suspicious behavior @ @ @ @ @ @ @ transaction by a company that “ was identified as the subject of 12 money laundering investigations carried out by HSBC Hong Kong which resulted in disclosures to Hong Kong authorities and recommendation for closure of this entity 's accounts.
” Another Hong Kong customer was the subject of eight such money laundering investigations .
In some cases , SARs allege , compliance officers in HSBC ’ s US operation raised concerns about customers in Hong Kong , only to be told that even the most basic information — who owned the company in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or what type of business it conducted — couldn ’ t be shared or was never collected in the first place .
“ It was impossible to do the job without this information , ” Alexis Grullon , who monitored international suspicious activity at HSBC until August 2014 , told ICIJ .
On the very day in 2012 that HSBC ’ s lawyers met with congressional investigators , employees in Hong Kong began transferring money for a customer called Trade Leader Corporation Limited .
Trade Leader would reportedly emerge in the so-called Russian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ billions of illicit dollars through banks in Eastern Europe .
By February 2014 , Trade Leader had moved more than half a billion dollars in transactions through HSBC .
Altogether , at least $ 840 million that filtered through HSBC Hong Kong can be connected to shell companies involved in the Russian Laundromat , according to an analysis of SARs by BuzzFeed News and ICIJ .
A representative for the company that registered Trade Leader did not answer detailed questions .
When investigators for HSBC ’ s US operations asked their counterparts in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Leader ’ s owner , the Americans received a curt response : “ None available.
” “ They would say : ‘ Sure , we ’ ll get back to you , ’ ” Grullon said .
“ But they ’ d never get back.
” One team member was so hungover after a particularly hard night that he crashed out in a bathroom stall at work the next day , the whistleblower told BuzzFeed News .
Another fell asleep during a phone call .
In July 2016 , HSBC promised the whistleblower @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — an exhaustive review by the bank ’ s Global Internal Investigations Group .
In the meantime , Cherkasky ’ s reports to the Justice Department again and again cited a major problem festering inside many of HSBC ’ s branches : the broken computer systems that were intended to catch dirty money , systems like the one the London team was supposed to be fixing .
Human beings alone can ’ t track the trillions of dollars sloshing through the financial system .
Banks rely instead on software that can flag any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ way that credit card companies flag irregular purchases .
These programs are the central pillar of any anti–money laundering program .
But HSBC struggled to fix its vital computer system .
Four people who worked on one of the bank ’ s main computer programs , called CAMP , told BuzzFeed News that there was no easy way to share information among the company ’ s different computer systems , and that CAMP was so inconsistent that it would flag a transaction as suspicious in one country but not another .
“ The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hairs [ sic ] running , ” the whistleblower emailed to an HSBC tipline in June 2016 , “ as it ’ s obvious to everyone on the ground that there ’ s no way it will meet ” the monitor ’ s deadlines .
That fall , the emails suggest , things were no better .
“ HSBC is no more safe or compliant than 2 years ago , ” the whistleblower wrote in November .
“ There has been an appalling amount of time and money spent to achieve so little.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ names such as “ Rouge ” and “ Mantas ” were behind schedule , according to another email , and the high-paid team that was known for partying forgot to back up data , so it lost reams of compliance information in a crash .
Top workers were frustrated and left the bank , the emails said .
In the year that the whistleblower repeatedly sounded alarms , the monitor also kept flagging how flawed HSBC ’ s critical software was .
Cherkasky ’ s team updated the government about “ areas of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ make “ greater and quicker progress.
” The monitor set deadlines to make important fixes across the bank .
But nearly four years after he began the job , Cherkasky ’ s only recourse was to write reports updating the Justice Department about how HSBC “ still struggles.
” The whistleblower began copying the UK ’ s top regulator , the Financial Conduct Authority , on their complaint in November 2016 .
In June 2017 , the now-former employee received a final update on the HSBC internal investigation .
It said that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , that “ there have been changes made to the FCC function and personnel.
” HSBC would not answer detailed questions about the matter .
When a project failed to get done — something as simple as adding names to a spreadsheet to capture those who are barred from doing business in the US — HSBC executives tried to paper it over by “ rebaselining ” it , changing its original goal .
Christina Rea , the former HSBC employee who said her colleagues felt like they were just supposed to “ sit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the monitor , oversaw a team that investigated alerts for suspicious transactions .
In particular , her team worked on embassy accounts , potential hot spots because of the politically connected clients .
She recalled investigating one transaction in which it wasn ’ t clear where the money was coming from or where it was going , essential details for understanding whether it was aboveboard .
She was told she was taking too long on it , Rea said , but she explained she needed one more day .
That night , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ On paper , it might look like alerts are being cleared , but it was n't being investigated , ” she said .
Disillusioned by how little the bank seemed to care about stopping financial crime , she eventually quit the job and left banking altogether .
By March 2014 , the WCM777 scam had collapsed .
Investors no longer had access to their accounts .
After scores of complaints and investigations in two countries and four different states — prompting cease-and-desist orders in three — the US Securities and Exchange Commission @ @ @ @ @ @ @ assets , and appointed a receiver to stop the bleeding .
But HSBC Hong Kong didn ’ t stop .
Just four days after the SEC filing , the bank let WCM777 withdraw all of the money in its account — more than $ 7 million .
In an interview with ICIJ , Xu blamed lower-level players in the organization for “ overpromising ” to WCM777 investors early on .
He also faulted investors for not understanding the company ’ s products .
Xu denounced the actions US authorities had taken , saying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ investors took a sharply different view .
On message boards and social media , they lambasted Xu and their church leaders for luring them into a scam .
Julio Ramos , a California lawyer for scores of investors , said HSBC ’ s Hong Kong branch played a pivotal role in helping the company move its ill-gotten gains .
`` HSBC Hong Kong knew that WCM777 was engaging in fraud , '' he wrote in a class action complaint against the bank .
“ The Ponzi scheme survived for over a year because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ knowingly delivered , organized , converted and laundered proceeds from an illegal Ponzi scheme.
” The court-appointed receiver who had been tasked with recovering money for victims of the scheme sent a subpoena to HSBC Hong Kong .
But the bank said HSBC Hong Kong was outside the jurisdiction of US courts and it did not have to respond .
The receiver told the court in February 2015 that “ the cost of tracing these funds overseas will be very expensive ” because HSBC did not cooperate .
In all , more than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had invested more than $ 80 million , according to court records .
Others said they had turned over funds — frequently in cash — that were never tallied .
The SEC called WCM777 a “ worldwide pyramid scheme.
” But a federal judge dismissed the class action lawsuit against HSBC Hong Kong on August 10 because the US court lacks jurisdiction over Hong Kong businesses .
In an annual disclosure to shareholders in February 2018 , the bank revealed information that Cherkasky had put in his final report .
Despite “ significant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deficiencies in HSBC ’ s financial crime compliance controls and areas of HSBC ’ s programme that require further work , and highlighted potential instances of financial crime and certain areas in which he believes that HSBC is not yet adequately managing financial crime risk.
” The bank was reviewing those issues with the Justice Department , the Federal Reserve Board , and the UK 's financial regulator .
The monitor ’ s final report was never released to the public .
Last year , BuzzFeed News filed a Freedom of Information Act @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It has also filed a FOIA request for the letter that the monitor wrote that day in the Bryant Park office .
Last month , a government attorney said that publicly disclosing the report would interfere with an ongoing criminal prosecution — he did not give any details — and that disclosure “ might also provide a roadmap for criminals to exploit vulnerabilities in HSBC ’ s compliance program and potentially those of other financial institutions.
” The bank took the unusual step of intervening in the FOIA lawsuit , writing a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ release the report .
One month after the government announced the end of the deferred prosecution agreement that brought Cherkasky ’ s team into HSBC , the bank entered into a new one , for a different set of financial crimes : fraud .
Two years later , it would receive yet another .
● Spencer Woodman of ICIJ , and Sophie Comeau , Waylon Cunningham , Sam Feehan , Nancy Guan , Kristy Hutchings , Kylie Storm , Felicia Tapia , Karen Wang , Abby Washer , and Ashley Zhang of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contributed reporting .

In Malta, a small island nation with a large HSBC presence, a key employee told Cherkasky’s investigators that he was too scared to talk because he had received a death threat before his interview.
And in Sri Lanka, the monitor’s team was made to promise the bank it wouldn’t look into the accounts of the many politicians who used its services, according to a source familiar with the matter. Even then, government ministers wouldn’t respond to visa requests. First, the monitor was told the official in charge of their trip was on holiday. Then that person was ill. Eventually, Cherkasky’s team moved on.
In China, one of the members of the monitor’s team was asleep in his Beijing hotel room when he heard a knock at the door. In the hallway stood local law enforcement agents who wouldn’t give their names. They interrogated him about what he intended to do in China. To Cherkasky’s group, it was an intimidation tactic.
The bank first opened its doors in Hong Kong in 1865, as the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, to finance trade between Europe and Asia. The region still accounts for two-thirds of HSBC’s profits. The bank is so deeply interwoven with the culture of that former colony that its headquarters are a kind of landmark, where passersby pat the paws of its distinctive lion statues for good luck.
When the monitor’s team arrived there, it met layers of resistance. Two people familiar with the conversation recalled that HSBC’s former general counsel Stuart Levey told Cherkasky that China was one of its “emerging markets,” and that as a result the bank’s operations there weren’t ready for an intensive review. Levey did not comment for this article.
It became clear, the two sources said, that in China and Hong Kong, government ministers and bank employees alike were offended that a group of Americans would expect access to HSBC’s books.
Those sources recalled a circumstance they said happened often: The monitor’s team expected to interview an HSBC employee, only to be notified that the person was unavailable because they had been summoned away at the last moment.
A contractor who was not a part of the monitor’s team, but who was sent to Hong Kong in 2014 to assess HSBC’s anti–money laundering programs, recalled arriving at the bank’s skyscraper overlooking Victoria Harbor. The contractor was made to sit in the lobby for nearly an hour before being allowed upstairs.
Inside the office, staff members wouldn’t turn over the data that was supposed to be under review. They suggested getting out to see the city instead.
“They basically told me to fuck off and go shopping,” the contractor said.
All the while, the bank was waving through billions of dollars’ worth of suspicious financial transactions.
The FinCEN Files show that people in HSBC’s US compliance office — the department charged with making sure the bank follows anti–money laundering laws — filed reports identifying more than $2 billion in transactions through the company’s Hong Kong subsidiary that bore the hallmarks of possible criminal activity. This was happening while HSBC was under the supposedly tough scrutiny of the monitor, but the government took no action.
HSBC's own reports cited the same targets again and again for suspicious behavior. The Hong Kong branch allowed a transaction by a company that “was identified as the subject of 12 money laundering investigations carried out by HSBC Hong Kong which resulted in disclosures to Hong Kong authorities and recommendation for closure of this entity's accounts.” Another Hong Kong customer was the subject of eight such money laundering investigations.
In some cases, SARs allege, compliance officers in HSBC’s US operation raised concerns about customers in Hong Kong, only to be told that even the most basic information — who owned the company in question, where it was located, or what type of business it conducted — couldn’t be shared or was never collected in the first place.
“It was impossible to do the job without this information,” Alexis Grullon, who monitored international suspicious activity at HSBC until August 2014, told ICIJ.
On the very day in 2012 that HSBC’s lawyers met with congressional investigators, employees in Hong Kong began transferring money for a customer called Trade Leader Corporation Limited.
Trade Leader would reportedly emerge in the so-called Russian Laundromat, a notorious scheme to funnel billions of illicit dollars through banks in Eastern Europe. By February 2014, Trade Leader had moved more than half a billion dollars in transactions through HSBC. Altogether, at least $840 million that filtered through HSBC Hong Kong can be connected to shell companies involved in the Russian Laundromat, according to an analysis of SARs by BuzzFeed News and ICIJ. A representative for the company that registered Trade Leader did not answer detailed questions.
When investigators for HSBC’s US operations asked their counterparts in Hong Kong for the name of Trade Leader’s owner, the Americans received a curt response: “None available.”
“They would say: ‘Sure, we’ll get back to you,’” Grullon said. “But they’d never get back.”


buzzfeed--2020-09-22--Deadly Terror Networks And Drug Cartels Use Huge Banks To Finance Their Crimes. These Secret Documen

Deadly Terror Networks And Drug Cartels Use Huge Banks To Finance Their Crimes. These Secret Documents Show How The Banks Profit.

Thousands of secret “ suspicious activity reports ” offer a never-before-seen picture of corruption and complicity — and how the government lets it flourish .
A huge trove of secret government documents reveals for the first time how the giants of Western banking move trillions of dollars in suspicious transactions , enriching themselves and their shareholders while facilitating the work of terrorists , kleptocrats , and drug kingpins .
And the US government , despite its vast powers , fails to stop it .
Today , the FinCEN Files — thousands of “ suspicious activity reports ” and other US @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of global financial corruption , the banks enabling it , and the government agencies that watch as it flourishes .
BuzzFeed News has shared these reports with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and more than 100 news organizations in 88 countries .
These documents , compiled by banks , shared with the government , but kept from public view , expose the hollowness of banking safeguards , and the ease with which criminals have exploited them .
Profits from deadly drug wars , fortunes embezzled from developing countries , and hard-earned savings @ @ @ @ @ @ @ allowed to flow into and out of these financial institutions , despite warnings from the banks ’ own employees .
Money laundering is a crime that makes other crimes possible .
It can accelerate economic inequality , drain public funds , undermine democracy , and destabilize nations — and the banks play a key role .
“ Some of these people in those crisp white shirts in their sharp suits are feeding off the tragedy of people dying all over the world , ” said Martin Woods , a former suspicious transactions investigator @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to stop financial crime have instead allowed it to flourish .
So long as a bank files a notice that it may be facilitating criminal activity , it all but immunizes itself and its executives from criminal prosecution .
The suspicious activity alert effectively gives them a free pass to keep moving the money and collecting the fees .
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network , or FinCEN , is the agency within the Treasury Department charged with combating money laundering , terrorist financing , and other financial crimes .
It collects millions of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ SARs .
It makes them available to US law enforcement agencies and other nations ’ financial intelligence operations .
It even compiles a report called “ Kleptocracy Weekly ” that summarizes the dealings of foreign leaders such as Russian President Vladimir Putin .
What it does not do is force the banks to shut the money laundering down .
In the rare instances when the US government does crack down on banks , it often relies on sweetheart deals called deferred prosecution agreements , which include fines but no high-level arrests .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to hold executives personally accountable , under guidance by former deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein that warned government agencies against “ piling on.
” But the FinCEN Files investigation shows that even after they were prosecuted or fined for financial misconduct , banks such as JPMorgan Chase , HSBC , Standard Chartered , Deutsche Bank , and Bank of New York Mellon continued to move money for suspected criminals .
Suspicious payments flow around the world and into countless industries , from international sports to Hollywood entertainment to luxury real estate to Nobu @ @ @ @ @ @ @ companies that make familiar items from people ’ s lives , from the gas in their car to the granola in their cereal bowl .
The FinCEN Files expose an underlying truth of the modern era : The networks through which dirty money traverse the world have become vital arteries of the global economy .
They enable a shadow financial system so wide-ranging and so unchecked that it has become inextricable from the so-called legitimate economy .
Banks with household names have helped to make it so .
Information from millions of these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ through which law enforcement officers can summon detailed financial information with a few keystrokes .
The FinCEN Files opens a rare window into this vast system of financial intelligence , unmatched in the world but all but unknown to the public .
The SARs themselves are so closely held that members of the public can not obtain them through records requests or subpoenas , and banks are not allowed even to confirm their existence .
Prior to this reporting , very few SARs had ever been revealed .
The FinCEN Files encompass more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ year , BuzzFeed News and its partner news organizations across the world mined the information on these tens of thousands of pages to map more than 200,000 transactions .
( Here ’ s an explanation of how we did it . )
In all , suspicious activity reports in the FinCEN Files flagged more than $ 2 trillion in transactions between 1999 and 2017 .
Western banks could have blocked almost any of them , but in most cases they kept the money moving and kept collecting their fees .
Suspicious activity reports @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crime watchdogs , or compliance officers , who are often parked in remote offices and left to make sense of a vast number of transactions with very few resources , writing SARs with little research or verification .
BuzzFeed News ’ research went much further , including reams of internal bank data , thousands of pages of public records , hundreds of interviews with sources across the globe , dozens of Freedom of Information Act filings , five public records lawsuits , and requests for three federal courts to unseal records — all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ financial system that is largely hidden .
BuzzFeed News is not publishing the SARs in full because they contain information about people or companies that are not under suspicion , but who were swept up in the banks ’ searches .
A subset of the documents is being published , with redactions , to support reporting in specific stories .
After the Treasury Department received detailed questions about the FinCEN Files investigation , the agency released a statement saying that it was “ aware that various media outlets intend to publish a series @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Activity Reports ( SARs ) .
” It continued , “ the unauthorized disclosure of SARs is a crime that can impact the national security of the United States , compromise law enforcement investigations , and threaten the safety and security of the institutions and individuals who file such reports.
” The agency announced that it was referring the matter to the Department of Justice and the Treasury Department ’ s Office of Inspector General .
In a subsequent letter , FinCEN ’ s general counsel said that disclosure of SARs can make @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which “ could mean law enforcement has fewer potential leads to stop crimes like human trafficking , child exploitation , fraud , corruption , terrorism , and cyber-enabled crime.
” FinCEN did not respond to repeated invitations to discuss security concerns .
Sen. Ron Wyden , a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee , which requested some of these SARs , said the FinCEN Files investigation “ reinforces the fact that we now have two systems of law enforcement and justice in the country.
” Drug cartels move millions through US banks ; @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ If you 're wealthy and well-connected , you can figure out how to do an enormous amount of harm to society at large and ensure that it accrues to enormous financial benefit for all of you.
” Robert Mazur , a former federal special agent and an expert in money laundering , said that making this material public `` could enhance national security , aid future investigations , and encourage institutions to more consistently adhere to SAR filing requirements , ” and `` will hopefully get people who are in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ systemic failure.
” Based in the United Arab Emirates , Mazaka General Trading presented itself to the world as a wholesaler .
But between March 2013 and April 2014 , the company received nearly $ 50 million from five companies involved in a Russian money laundering ring that manipulated international stock trades .
In May and June 2014 , it received more than $ 4 million from a Singapore company that appears barely even to exist .
It was also sending and receiving money from British firms located at 175 Darkes Lane , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ addresses for shell companies , which are a common tool to hide ownership .
These transactions by Mazaka General Trading — which the Treasury Department later declared to be a part of the Khanani money laundering network , a group that has financed terrorism and drug cartels around the globe — involved businesses and people far from the shores of the United States .
But as the money pinged around from one bank to another , it was all being tracked and it would all be reported to the Treasury Department .
Because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ international finance , the common denominator between the world ’ s disparate currencies , banking customers around the world need access to it .
But only select banks are licensed to conduct dollar transactions .
So smaller banks in other countries partner with larger institutions , which exchange their customers ’ pesos , yuan , or dirham for greenbacks .
For a fee , the arrangement , known as correspondent banking , helps keep the global economy humming .
As they pass through US banks , these transfers give the Treasury Department a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It shares some of that information through the Egmont Group , a little-known coalition of financial intelligence units from more than 150 countries and territories .
SARs have provided Egmont members with financial details that would be otherwise unattainable , such as those concerning former Olympic Committee member Lamine Diack , who has been sentenced to prison for crimes connected to the Russian doping scandal , and the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska , who was sanctioned by the US two years ago .
( Deripaska has sued the US government , maintaining that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . )
But if the database is a powerful asset to law enforcement investigations , to privacy advocates , it is a nightmare of overreach .
Congress created the current SAR program in 1992 making banks the frontline in the fight against money laundering .
But Michael German , a former FBI special agent who is a national security and privacy expert , said that after 9/11 , `` the SAR program became more about mass surveillance than identifying discrete transactions to disrupt money launderers.
” Today , he said , `` the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other mass surveillance programs .
Find someone you want to get for whatever reason then sift through the vast troves of data collected to find anything you can hang them with . ''
In 2017 , when US congressional committees began investigating the last presidential election and other matters , they , too , turned to the Treasury Department database .
They requested SARs on Deutsche Bank , which had loaned Trump money ; Christopher Steele , the former MI6 agent who wrote the so-called Trump dossier ; an array of Russian oligarchs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Paul Manafort ; and even a small casino in the Pacific run by a former Trump employee .
All told , they were looking for information on more than 200 entities .
FinCEN unearthed tens of thousands of pages of documents .
Those documents , along with a few additional SARs requested by federal law enforcement authorities , make up the majority of the FinCEN Files .
Some were never turned over to the committees that requested them .
A person familiar with the matter blew the whistle to multiple members of Congress @ @ @ @ @ @ @ SARs about Trump ’ s finances .
( A source familiar with the matter told BuzzFeed News that FinCEN ’ s database did not contain SARs on either Trump or the Trump Organization . )
And though the documents show suspicious payments to people in Trump ’ s orbit before and after key moments in the 2016 presidential campaign , they do not provide direct information on any election interference .
Because the searches were so broad , however , they revealed something that most in Congress hadn ’ t even been looking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s biggest banks kept doing business with clients that they themselves suspected were facilitating terror and corruption .
The information was laid out in transaction by transaction .
And it had been there all along .
FinCEN received more than 2 million SARs last year .
That number has nearly doubled over the past decade , as financial institutions have faced mounting pressure to file and the volume of international transactions has grown .
Over the same period , FinCEN ’ s staff has shrunk by more than 10 % .
Sources there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , let alone acted upon .
Meanwhile , experts say , some banks treat SARs as a kind of get-out-of-jail-free card , filing alerts about a huge array of transactions without actually moving to halt them .
In some cases , banks filed numerous reports on the same clients , detailing their suspected crimes over the course of years while continuing to welcome their business .
By December 2013 , JPMorgan Chase had filed at least eight SARs on accounts and companies controlled by Manafort , flagging more than $ 10 million , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Manafort , who went on to become Trump ’ s campaign chair , was convicted of bank and tax fraud in 2018 .
Paul Pelletier , a former senior Justice Department lawyer who once led the agency ’ s fraud unit , said that approach makes a mockery of the system .
“ You ca n't just file SAR after SAR after SAR without eventually violating the money laundering laws , ” he said .
“ You cut them off and drop them as clients .
But you do n't keep taking their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sweeping powers to investigate account holders , the FinCEN Files investigation reveals that major financial institutions often fail to perform the most basic checks on their customers , such as verifying where a business is located when someone opens a new account .
The lapses allow criminal groups to hide behind shell corporations , registered with no identifying details about their ownership , and slide the proceeds of their crimes into the global financial system .
In many cases , the banks appear to have no idea whatsoever whose money they are moving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ American operations asked their colleagues in Hong Kong for the name of the person who owned Trade Leader , a company that had moved more than half a billion dollars through the bank in less than two years , the answer they got was “ None available.
” The company would reportedly emerge as an important hub in the so-called Russian Laundromat , a sprawling scheme in which wealthy Russians , facilitated by banks , secretly moved their money into the West .
After scandals like the Russian Laundromat , federal prosecutors have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Addressing an anti–money laundering conference in 2015 , Leslie Caldwell , then the head of the Justice Department 's criminal division , said that when it came to getting banks to clean up their acts , deferred prosecution agreements , which typically involve a fine and a probationary period , “ can often accomplish as much as , and sometimes even more than , we could from a criminal conviction.
” But the FinCEN Files investigation shows something very different .
Banks often get to the end of their agreement without actually @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of getting the prosecution that they had been threatened with , they just get another chance .
And sometimes another .
In 2012 , HSBC faced a historic crisis .
After permitting narcotraffickers to launder money and conducting business in off-limits countries such as Sudan and Myanmar , the bank was fined $ 1.9 billion .
It promised to change its ways , and to hold it to that promise , the government installed an independent monitor to keep close watch .
But the FinCEN Files investigation shows HSBC continued banking , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ customers that got it in trouble in the first place , such as a Panamanian import-export firm that the Treasury Department later said was laundering money for drug kingpins .
JPMorgan Chase got a deferred prosecution deal of its own .
For years , it was the primary bank of the world ’ s biggest Ponzi schemer , Bernie Madoff .
Despite multiple warnings from its own employees , the bank never filed a suspicious activity report on him and allegedly collected $ 500 million in fees .
For punishment , the bank @ @ @ @ @ @ @ billion fine and promise to improve its money laundering defenses .
But after it settled the Madoff case , the bank ’ s own investigators said they suspected it had opened its accounts to an alleged Russian organized crime figure who is known for drug trafficking and contract murders , as well as businesses tied to the repressive North Korean regime , which the US has placed off-limits .
It happened at Standard Chartered , too .
Last year , the government amended its 2012 deferred prosecution agreement after the bank was found @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and businesses in off-limits countries , primarily Iran .
The bank paid fines totaling $ 1.1 billion to US and UK authorities , and extended the terms of the deferred prosecution agreement for the sixth time in the space of seven years .
The bank apologized for its “ violations and control deficiencies ” but promised that none had occurred after 2014 .
The FinCEN Files documents show Standard Chartered processed hundreds of millions of dollars for companies it suspected were circumventing sanctions against Iran until at least 2017 .
Since 2010 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deferred prosecution agreements for anti–money laundering or sanctions violations , according to an analysis by BuzzFeed News .
Of those , at least four went on to break the law again and get fined .
Twice , the government responded to this kind of repeat offense by renewing the deferred prosecution agreement — the very tool that failed the first time .
If the government wanted to , experts in financial crime say , it could stop the dirty money coursing through the big banks , as well as the vast array of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would be to require companies to disclose their owners to the Treasury Department , rather than allowing people to hide behind a shell company .
Lawmakers are debating a bipartisan bill that could address that for small companies .
The National Federation of Independent Business has opposed it , saying it raises privacy issues and would increase costs .
Sen. Sherrod Brown , who cosponsored the bill , told BuzzFeed News , “ Congress must act soon because criminals have long been revising , adjusting , and amending their tactics to circumvent our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ make a difference .
HSBC has fought to keep secret the final report by the monitor that the government installed to watch over the bank during the years of its deferred prosecution agreement .
It even took the unusual step of weighing in on a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit , when BuzzFeed News sued the Justice Department to release the report .
The knowledge that negative reports could become public , and potentially damage share prices , could impel wayward banks to clean up their acts .
Others say the SARs themselves @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the former FBI special agent , called the idea behind them `` naive '' because `` the largest money laundering operations occur with the cooperation of the financial institutions , or at least some officers within those institutions .
The lack of money laundering enforcement had nothing to do with a lack of evidence of suspicious transactions , but a lack of interest by political and law enforcement leadership.
’ ’ The most powerful way to fix the problem might be the simplest : Arrest the executives whose banks break the law @ @ @ @ @ @ @ until you start putting silver bracelets on people , '' Pelletier said .
`` Think of the message you 're sending to repeat offenders . ''
`` These guys know what they 're doing , ’ ’ said Thomas Nollner , a former regulator with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency .
“ You break the law , you should go to jail , period . ''
That approach was once the norm .
“ Back in the 1980s and 90s and even into the early 2000s , the government went @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said US District Judge Jed Rakoff , who has been an outspoken critic of weak penalties for white-collar criminals .
In the past , the CEOs of Enron , WorldCom , and Tyco were all sent to jail for what they did , he pointed out .
“ Now that ’ s deterrence.
” Rakoff went further : “ Under US law , a bank that engages in money laundering can literally be forced out of business by the government , and it is kind of surprising that government hasn ’ t taken @ @ @ @ @ @ @ effect it would have.
” Ultimately , the power to keep criminal profits from being laundered through the US financial system may not reside in the actions of a bank ’ s compliance office or its computer systems or even its executive tier .
It may not reside with banking regulators or federal prosecutors or FinCEN .
It may not even be a matter of national policy alone .
Shutting down wayward banks could have an impact on the whole economy — for the US , its major trade partners , and beyond @ @ @ @ @ @ @ under US scrutiny , they step in .
In 2012 , Standard Chartered and HSBC were facing criminal prosecution .
George Osborne , at that time the UK ’ s chancellor of the exchequer , wrote to the chairperson of the US Federal Reserve , Ben Bernanke , and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to discuss his “ concerns ” that a heavy-handed response could have “ unintended consequences.
” He warned of a “ contagion.
” The implication : Close one bank and the whole economy could suffer .
Mazur , the former @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , says there are a “ mosaic ” of reasons why US authorities let the money keep running , but one of them may just be that it finds its way into too many pockets .
“ Even if it 's bad wealth , it buys buildings , ” he said .
“ It puts money into bank accounts .
It enriches the nation.
” ● Sophie Comeau , Waylon Cunningham , Sam Feehan , Nancy Guan , Kristy Hutchings , Kylie Storm , Felicia Tapia , Karen Wang , Abby Washer , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ School for Communication and Journalism contributed reporting .

Paul Pelletier, a former senior Justice Department lawyer who once led the agency’s fraud unit, said that approach makes a mockery of the system. “You can't just file SAR after SAR after SAR without eventually violating the money laundering laws,” he said. “You cut them off and drop them as clients. But you don't keep taking their money."
Despite the banks’ sweeping powers to investigate account holders, the FinCEN Files investigation reveals that major financial institutions often fail to perform the most basic checks on their customers, such as verifying where a business is located when someone opens a new account. The lapses allow criminal groups to hide behind shell corporations, registered with no identifying details about their ownership, and slide the proceeds of their crimes into the global financial system.
In many cases, the banks appear to have no idea whatsoever whose money they are moving.
When investigators for HSBC’s American operations asked their colleagues in Hong Kong for the name of the person who owned Trade Leader, a company that had moved more than half a billion dollars through the bank in less than two years, the answer they got was “None available.” The company would reportedly emerge as an important hub in the so-called Russian Laundromat, a sprawling scheme in which wealthy Russians, facilitated by banks, secretly moved their money into the West.
After scandals like the Russian Laundromat, federal prosecutors have made big pronouncements about forcing meaningful change.
Addressing an anti–money laundering conference in 2015, Leslie Caldwell, then the head of the Justice Department's criminal division, said that when it came to getting banks to clean up their acts, deferred prosecution agreements, which typically involve a fine and a probationary period, “can often accomplish as much as, and sometimes even more than, we could from a criminal conviction.”
But the FinCEN Files investigation shows something very different. Banks often get to the end of their agreement without actually fixing the problems. Then, instead of getting the prosecution that they had been threatened with, they just get another chance. And sometimes another.
In 2012, HSBC faced a historic crisis. After permitting narcotraffickers to launder money and conducting business in off-limits countries such as Sudan and Myanmar, the bank was fined $1.9 billion. It promised to change its ways, and to hold it to that promise, the government installed an independent monitor to keep close watch. But the FinCEN Files investigation shows HSBC continued banking, and profiting from, the same kinds of customers that got it in trouble in the first place, such as a Panamanian import-export firm that the Treasury Department later said was laundering money for drug kingpins.
JPMorgan Chase got a deferred prosecution deal of its own. For years, it was the primary bank of the world’s biggest Ponzi schemer, Bernie Madoff. Despite multiple warnings from its own employees, the bank never filed a suspicious activity report on him and allegedly collected $500 million in fees. For punishment, the bank was required to pay a $1.7 billion fine and promise to improve its money laundering defenses. But after it settled the Madoff case, the bank’s own investigators said they suspected it had opened its accounts to an alleged Russian organized crime figure who is known for drug trafficking and contract murders, as well as businesses tied to the repressive North Korean regime, which the US has placed off-limits.
It happened at Standard Chartered, too. Last year, the government amended its 2012 deferred prosecution agreement after the bank was found to have continued clearing transactions for individuals and businesses in off-limits countries, primarily Iran. The bank paid fines totaling $1.1 billion to US and UK authorities, and extended the terms of the deferred prosecution agreement for the sixth time in the space of seven years. The bank apologized for its “violations and control deficiencies” but promised that none had occurred after 2014.
The FinCEN Files documents show Standard Chartered processed hundreds of millions of dollars for companies it suspected were circumventing sanctions against Iran until at least 2017.
Since 2010, at least 18 financial institutions have received deferred prosecution agreements for anti–money laundering or sanctions violations, according to an analysis by BuzzFeed News. Of those, at least four went on to break the law again and get fined. Twice, the government responded to this kind of repeat offense by renewing the deferred prosecution agreement — the very tool that failed the first time.