6 ms·

From a jumble of secret reports, damning data on big banks and dirty money

51 points by firloop 6y ago

firloop 6y ago
This is the initial report. For some of the key analyses and takeaways, you can see them all on this part of the ICIJ's website: https://www.icij.org/investigations/fincen-files/ https://www.icij.org/investigations/fincen-files/
parliament32 6y ago
>on occasions an address in China would have Switzerland’s “CH” country code assigned to it Switzerland's country code is CH? TIL...
- _Microft 6y ago
  Yup, it has its roots in "Confoederatio Helvetica", see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland
  - zepearl 6y ago
    Which is printed as well on coins, together with the pic of somebody who's supposed to be a shepherd (might be inspired to be similar to what William Tell would have looked) :) https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:F%C3%BCnffranken.jpg https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:F%C3%BCnffranken.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tell
- arthurcolle 6y ago
  The ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for Switzerland is "CH", as sibling poster commented from Confederation Helvetique or something like that. China is "CN". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-2
debunked 6y ago
Has this been fact-checked by a third party? How do we know this isn't more foreign disinformation to erode trust in our financial institutions? The documents could be forgeries.
- lowdose 6y ago
  Because the financial institutions are so bad in creating value for anybody else than themselves foreign state operators cannot do a better smear campaign. Google on "Deutsche Bank scandals" or visit: https://m.dw.com/en/deutsche-banks-biggest-scandals/a-54979535 https://m.dw.com/en/deutsche-banks-biggest-scandals/a-549795...
Hizonner 6y ago
The first "damning" sentence throws out a sensationalistic claim about "bloodshed and suffering". This is not mentioned again in the article, is certainly not substantiated in the article, and doesn't look like it's substantiated anywhere else on the site, either. Sensationalist much?
shadowprofile77 6y ago
Not to belittle the quality of the reporting and research by the ICIJ but a hefty chunk of the site's narrative about hiding funds puts way too much often unsubstantiated focus on how evil and "dirty" the whole thing is, as a default position, which is not entirely healthy or particularly honest in philosophical terms, mainly because it by default implies that government having a right to snoop and intervene into every facet of private financial transactions is an inherently good thing. It is not. Governments regularly engage in nefarious and dishonest financial dealings on a scale many private entities don't come close to matching. Governments also often terribly squander vast sums of public finances that they managed to squeeze from the private world, and yes, there is a very valid argument or two in favor of financial privacy being a necessary thing in the modern world, instead of just viewing it as something that automatically comes with criminal connotations just because some owners of assets seek to keep the nature and movement of theirs private.

51 points by firloop 6y ago

This is the initial report. For some of the key analyses and takeaways, you can see them all on this part of the ICIJ's website: https://www.icij.org/investigations/fincen-files/ https://www.icij.org/investigations/fincen-files/

parliament32 6y ago

>on occasions an address in China would have Switzerland’s “CH” country code assigned to it Switzerland's country code is CH? TIL...

_Microft 6y ago
Yup, it has its roots in "Confoederatio Helvetica", see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland
- zepearl 6y ago
  Which is printed as well on coins, together with the pic of somebody who's supposed to be a shepherd (might be inspired to be similar to what William Tell would have looked) :) https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:F%C3%BCnffranken.jpg https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:F%C3%BCnffranken.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tell
arthurcolle 6y ago
The ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for Switzerland is "CH", as sibling poster commented from Confederation Helvetique or something like that. China is "CN". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-2

debunked 6y ago

Has this been fact-checked by a third party? How do we know this isn't more foreign disinformation to erode trust in our financial institutions? The documents could be forgeries.

lowdose 6y ago
Because the financial institutions are so bad in creating value for anybody else than themselves foreign state operators cannot do a better smear campaign. Google on "Deutsche Bank scandals" or visit: https://m.dw.com/en/deutsche-banks-biggest-scandals/a-54979535 https://m.dw.com/en/deutsche-banks-biggest-scandals/a-549795...

Hizonner 6y ago

The first "damning" sentence throws out a sensationalistic claim about "bloodshed and suffering". This is not mentioned again in the article, is certainly not substantiated in the article, and doesn't look like it's substantiated anywhere else on the site, either. Sensationalist much?

shadowprofile77 6y ago

Not to belittle the quality of the reporting and research by the ICIJ but a hefty chunk of the site's narrative about hiding funds puts way too much often unsubstantiated focus on how evil and "dirty" the whole thing is, as a default position, which is not entirely healthy or particularly honest in philosophical terms, mainly because it by default implies that government having a right to snoop and intervene into every facet of private financial transactions is an inherently good thing. It is not. Governments regularly engage in nefarious and dishonest financial dealings on a scale many private entities don't come close to matching. Governments also often terribly squander vast sums of public finances that they managed to squeeze from the private world, and yes, there is a very valid argument or two in favor of financial privacy being a necessary thing in the modern world, instead of just viewing it as something that automatically comes with criminal connotations just because some owners of assets seek to keep the nature and movement of theirs private.