- Sputnik International, 1920
Analysis
Enjoy in-depth, acute analysis of the most pressing local, regional and global trends at Sputnik!

JPMorgan Chase Cuts Off Ye West, Here Are The Three Worst Criminals Banks Have Worked With

© AP Photo / Mark J. TerrillIn this Jan. 13, 2020 file photo, Rapper Kanye West watches during the second half of an NBA basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Cleveland Cavaliers in Los Angeles. Drawings by West from when the rapper was a high school student in Chicago are now worth thousands of dollars, according to an appraiser.
In this Jan. 13, 2020 file photo, Rapper Kanye West watches during the second half of an NBA basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Cleveland Cavaliers in Los Angeles. Drawings by West from when the rapper was a high school student in Chicago are now worth thousands of dollars, according to an appraiser. - Sputnik International, 1920, 13.10.2022
Subscribe
According to a screenshot posted by conservative firebrand Candace Owens, Ye West, formerly known as Kanye West, has been banned from using JPMorgan Chase bank and will have to remove his funds held by Yeezy, LLC and its affiliated accounts by November 21.
It is unclear why the bank decided to end its relationship with West and Yeezy, LLC. Another individual was named in the letter but their identity is unknown because Owens blocked it out to “protect their privacy.”
Ye has been at the center of several political controversies. He ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2020 and has been friendly with Donald Trump in recent years, often sporting a Make America Great Again hat in photos. More recently, he wore a “White Lives Matter” shirt to the Paris Fashion Week and suggested on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson's show that executives at clothing outlet the Gap may have known about the Uvalde Texas elementary school shooting before it happened.
Despite West’s views oftentimes crossing over into the certifiably insane category, the blacklisting from banks for political or societal views, regardless of how distasteful and crazy those views may be, sets a terrible precedent for financial freedom and freedom of speech.
In this Nov. 17, 2019, file photo, Kanye West appears on stage during a service at Lakewood Church in Houston. - Sputnik International, 1920, 13.10.2022
Kanye Accused of Hate Speech on LeBron James’ Talk Show and Gets Pulled
It is true that banks can decide who they work with. However, they typically limit or shut down accounts they suspect of criminal activities, either through actions using the bank (money laundering) or if they are depositing money obtained through illegal activities.
At least, that is how it is supposed to work, but banks around the world have shown a willingness, even eagerness, to work with the most unscrupulous criminals on the planet, ones who have done far worse than promote lunatic conspiracy theories.
But before we get into individuals banks have been caught working with, it is worth pointing out that according to the FinCEN data leak, JPMorgan Chase, along with other bank giants like HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, and Bank of New York Mellon, moved illicit cash for people and companies they suspected to be criminal, even after they reported them to financial authorities.
The banks were using a strategy known as “defensive reporting.” Knowing that financial regulators are overwhelmed by thousands of suspicious activity reports (SARs), they simply reported suspicious accounts and then continued working with them, figuring action from financial regulators would not be forthcoming. If their activities were discovered, they could claim they did all they could by submitting the SAR.
About half of the time, the banks had no information about the entities performing the transactions and they continued to process the transaction, and they continued to do so, even after being fined by US authorities for failing to end flows of illicit money.
In this Feb. 9, 2020, file photo, Kanye West arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, Calif. On Monday, Oct. 18, 2021, a Los Angeles judge approved the request of the rapper, producer and fashion designer to legally change his name to just Ye, spelled Y-E, with no middle or last name. - Sputnik International, 1920, 10.10.2022
Kanye West’s Friends Worry About His Mental Health, According to Reports
All told, from 1997 to 2017, the banks moved more than $2 trillion from accounts they deemed suspicious. JPMorgan Chase’s transactions accounted for $514 billion of that figure, and they transferred money for companies tied to the theft of public funds from Venezuela, Malaysia and Ukraine. Those transfers included illicit payments from former Ukrainian officials to Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul J. Manafort Jr., who was later convicted of multiple felonies, including two counts of bank fraud and one count of failing to disclose a foreign bank account.
But who else have major global banks worked with?

1) HSBC: Mexican and Colombian Cartels, Including ‘El Chapo’

According to court documents, HSBC admitted to failing to set up an effective anti-money laundering program, particularly with “certain customers” in Mexico. This led to the bank laundering at least $881 million in drug trafficking proceeds from the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico and the Norte del Valle Cartel in Colombia. Until his second arrest in 2016 and subsequent extradition to the United States, the infamous Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. More than 79,000 people have disappeared in Mexico since 2006, primarily due to cartel activities. Wachovia, now a part of Wells Fargo, was also accused of dealing with cartels in Mexico. They settled out of court.

2) Deutsche Bank: Jeffery Epstein

In 2020, Deutsche Bank was fined $150 million for its relationship with pedophile ring-runner Jeffery Epstein. Despite the fact that Epstein was already a convicted, registered sex offender, he managed to transact millions of dollars through the global bank. Deutsche Bank failed to monitor the transactions despite being aware of Epstein’s history. Epstein died, an event ruled as a suicide by authorities, in a federal jail cell while awaiting trial for child sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking charges. Earlier this year, his associate Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty of helping Epstein find girls to traffic; she was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

3) JPMorgan Chase: Nazis and the Third Reich

JPMorgan and Chase Bank didn’t merge until 2000, but that hardly matters for the purposes of this article because both took actions during World War II to aid the German government’s war efforts and persecution of Jews. In the leadup and early days of the war, the German government issued Rückwanderer Marks to American citizens of German descent. They were used to allow Nazi sympathizers to purchase German Marks at a discounted rate using dollars. These marks were taken from people, mainly Jews, who fled Germany as Hitler rose to power and antisemitism ran rampant in the country. Chase Bank facilitated those transactions and received commission on them. In addition, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt froze German assets in the country, Chase continued to work with the Nazi government and sent their assets to Germany through South America.
After France fell to Germany, JPMorgan and Chase Bank continued to operate in occupied France, and they even froze the accounts of Jews in its Paris branch during the war.
Despite knowing of these events thanks to a post-war congressional hearing that was not made public until 2004, Chase did not admit to working with the Nazis until 2000, more than fifty years after the hearings.
Nazis, pedophiles, and cartels have had their activities facilitated by global banks, but an eccentric rapper with distasteful views is apparently a bridge too far for JPMorgan Chase.
Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала