by DrDebugDU » Sat Aug 06, 2005 3:44 pm
Now every financial transaction which is out of the ordinary has to be reported. They are taking one step at a time. Just like frog. If you put a frog in boiling water, it'll jump out, so you have to gradually turn up the heat and the poor creature will never notice a thing.<br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>I Have Seen Big Brother – And He Is Us</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Andrew S. Fischer | Aug 06 2005<br><br>Having been recently appointed Anti-Money Laundering Officer at my investment firm, I now have the official, government-sanctioned power to scrutinize our clients' account activity and report almost anything I deem "suspicious activity" to the federal government. Be worried, friends – be very worried – since every bank, every brokerage house, every financial institution in the U.S. is required by the Patriot Act to appoint an AML Officer, enact procedures to combat money- laundering, and file Suspicious Activity Reports on U.S. citizens. (You can view the 4-page SAR-SF form here.)<br><br>The Act's definition of a financial institution is disturbingly broad. It includes dealers in precious metals, stones, or jewels; pawnbrokers; loan or finance companies; insurance companies; travel agencies; telegraph companies; sellers of vehicles, including automobiles, airplanes, and boats. Essentially, it means your financial transactions are subject to investigation if you purchase an engagement ring, insure your home, take a vacation or buy a car.<br><br>According to the statute, if I simply should have become aware of suspicious activity and fail to report it, I may have broken the law. So, if I have a head cold one day and miss a $5,000 wire transfer on a client's brokerage statement – which is clearly suspicious activity since this client is a 90-year-old widow living on fixed-income investments, who has never made a wire transfer in ten years – I could be in trouble. (Don't laugh – this applies not just to the AML Officer, but to every employee in a financial organization in a position to view client transactions. So, if you make an unusually large deposit at the bank one day, your teller must report this potential "suspicious activity" to higher ups or face possible sanctions.)<br><br>(...)<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://prisonplanet.com/Pages/Aug05/060805BB.htm">prisonplanet.com/Pages/Au...0805BB.htm</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p097.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=drdebugdu>DrDebugDU</A> at: 8/6/05 1:47 pm<br></i>