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Deutsche Bank whistleblower found dead in LA's Lincoln Park
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- vmception 4y ago> Investigative journalist Scott Stedman … said Broeksmit “supplied me and other journalists with Deutsche Bank documents that highlighted the bank’s deep Russia connections. It is very sad. I don’t suspect foul play. Val struggled with drugs on and off. Waiting on further info.” Stay away from sources of fentanyl folks Anybody 45 and under randomly dying these days is most likely from exposure to fentanyl. Doesnt matter what other stuff theyre up to, how much you respect them or if would find it “disrespectful” to say they used certain drugs. Most people arent intentionally using it. https://www.abc12.com/news/fentanyl-number-one-cause-of-death-for-adults-18-45-recent-government-data-says/article_ed0bfe28-5f79-11ec-8aa0-af3f6cbff03c.html https://www.abc12.com/news/fentanyl-number-one-cause-of-deat... Anyway just a PSA. Curious about the toxicology report just like everyone else in the article said, but understanding how it occurs lets you read between the … lines... even when the report comes out.
- shaky-carrousel 4y agoCould you please add a link to a more reputable website? This one blocks European users because GDPR, which in this day and age means the site is either malicious or a misinformation cesspool.
- deknos 4y agoi don't want to attack the person, but calling the death of a person, if it would be a murder/assasination, foulplay makes me sad in any case, even if it was not a murder and it was selfimposed. that guy in the park surely had other goals in his live most of the time than dying in a park. i hope he can rest in piece.
- alphabettsy 4y agoTrue. Many people use Fentanyl intentionally also though both prescribed and not.
- reducesuffering 4y agoEvery single street pill or powder is suspect enough to just be rolling dice. Probably dark web too. People think they're taking Xanax...
- oboes 4y agoIn many countries (at least in Europe) there are harm reduction associations that can test the product for you at no cost and anonymously. In some cases you can even ask for a GC-MS, which is accurate enough to distinguish even between closely related substances (such as Xanax/alprazolam and other benzodiazepines).
- vmception 4y agoMajor US cities have that too, depending on political leaning, but it doesnt really match the user experience People are doing lines at parties, and more commonly getting in trouble when they use their supply at home by themselves These services rely on compulsive addicts to walk in, which is often people living on the street searching for the next hit There are also personal use test kits to help with this But at this point I’m thinking everyone should have a stash of narcan for resuscitation. Seems like an invisible distant and absurd thing but people are dying, number one killer 18-45 in US… and prevalance and education of narcan helps prevent the death. No different than defibrillators everywhere and fire extuingishers everywhere.
- thaumasiotes 4y ago> I don’t suspect foul play. It's at least worth considering reading this as "I don't want to be found dead in a park".
- _hl_ 4y ago> Curious about the toxicology report The report alone wouldn't be sufficient proof either. You can murder someone with fentanyl.
- vmception 4y agoAgreed, and the toxicology report can come back with the presence of a recreational drug that is out of character for their use, masking the reality that they thought they were taking a different drug to begin with, while all options could have been tainted with fentanyl Or nothing at all. Or there was foul play. Or there was foul play without the use of drugs. Or fentanyl use was intentional. Hoping to rule somethings out!
- killjoywashere 4y agoThis is why autopsies are a thing. The LA County Coroner is one of the biggest in the nation and their forensic pathologists have written a number of textbooks on various subtopics. Generally speaking, forensic pathologists follow a standard process specifically to make sure they avoid missing things. That said, drugs on board has a high rate of being classified as an accident. Not suicide unless they left a note; not homicide unless there’s a suspect or there’s something about the situation that precludes it (e.g. opiates on board but also gunshot to the back of the head).
- jollybean 4y agoIf that's true then it's a perfectly easy thing for someone wanting to take him out to take advantage of. It's like a 'freebie' cover.
- qubex 4y ago> * Anybody 45 and under randomly dying these days is most likely from exposure to fentanyl.* This might be applicable in some places (particularly in the USA) where the opioid crisis is in full swing, but it’s a very rare event outside those locations.
- vmception 4y agoSure, for anybody else that didn't connect that this was a US death in a US city and my corroborating source was from a US news publication citing a US government agency with US data that specifically counted US deaths, you can rest easy now. In all seriousness, it is interesting to think about the idea that the supply chain pollution is primarily affecting US, sounds like we can still go wild in Europe.
- jason0597 4y agoI think some room for interpretation exists. This is Deutsche Bank after all, a German bank. For all I knew it could have been an Austrian whistleblower
- vmception 4y agothere’s an article above the comment section
- wallaBBB 4y agoSupply chain pollution is affection everyone, but fentanyl is really not a thing outside of US, which is what the top comment was warning about.
- atdrummond 4y agoThis isn’t true. Canada has a far larger fentanyl problem (as a proportion of the drugs used, not in gross consumption) - particularly in BC.
- 4y ago
- babyshake 4y ago> read between the … lines.. Is this implying that cocaine is regularly cut with Fentanyl? My understanding is it is mostly added to Heroin.
- vmception 4y agoYes, cocaine now regularly has fentanyl in it Yes, cocaine users are sometimes receiving heroin Yes, sometimes whatever they receive contain fentanyl Yes, heroin users are also now commonly getting unintentional and intentional doses of fentanyl Yes, fentanyl is being added to other drugs as well Its a mess. I think its time to move on from abstinence only education to treating this like an ongoing bioterrorism attack and taking federal control of the supply chain.
- philwelch 4y agoHow do you take federal control of the supply chain of illegal drugs being illegally trafficked into the country? I do agree that it seems suspiciously like a deliberate attack, reminiscent of the opium wars.
- pjc50 4y ago> How do you take federal control of the supply chain of illegal drugs being illegally trafficked into the country? Let the CIA do it, again?
- vmception 4y agoFeds will probably end up fighting themselves in some cases yeah
- philwelch 4y agoThat might actually work.
- ncmncm 4y agoGive them away free to addicts under treatment, like in Portugal, which has practically eliminated its drug problem. Of course for that you need public health care, too. What a shame that the richest country in the world (at least, for millionaires -- the 95% here are no better off than other places, less so than many) can't afford what every other country with paved roads has.
- ostenning 4y agoCan someone please explain to me why "relatively" safe drugs are being cut with Fentanyl, a drug which seems to be killing a lot of people? To me it seems counter-intuitive to kill unsuspecting users of party drugs. If the dealers/manufacturers wanted to make more money, why not just cut it with baking soda?
- brailsafe 4y agoI imagine it's cheaper to produce at least the same result of whatever you're cutting it into.
- Anderkent 4y agopresumably it gets you a better effect than cutting with nonactive substances, meaning the users buy from you instead of the 'weak shit' that's cut with soda
- alar44 4y ago
- jmyeet 4y agoSo we all know that continued use increases your resistance to drugs. With opiates in particular this can reach the point of there being a very small window between chasing the high you want and a lethal dose. You'll note that most opiate deaths are of experienced users for this reason. Being stepped on exacerbates this because you really don't know how much of the drug is actually there. Fentanyl has become a relatively cheap way of upping the strength of whatever opiate you're selling. It used to be that no one knew how to illegally make fentanyl. Those dogs are long gone. But there's another aspect to this: if someone overdoses (even dies) from something you as a drug dealer have sold then (as dark as it sounds) that's actually good marketing. That means you have the good stuff. It's shown to increase demand. The moral of the story is don't get addicted to opiates.
- ostenning 4y agoBut I'm hearing cases of drugs like Cocaine being cut with it, I would say the desired effect of cocaine and opiates is somewhat diametrically opposed
- AzzieElbab 4y agoPretty much all illegal drugs that can be laced with fentanyl are laced with fentanyl nowadays. Staying away from it is easier said than done
- ahtihn 4y agoStaying away from illegal drugs is very easy unless you're already addicted.
- dopidopHN 4y agoThere was two confirmed case of weed containing trace of fentanyl where I live.( Deep South of the Us ) My understanding is the bagging facility being un-tidy and fentanyl contamination being easy. Two weeks ago I would have say « that a urban legend »
- irrational 4y agoWait, how does this happen if you aren’t intentionally using it? Am I about to die from fentanyl overdosing?
- elliekelly 4y agoI'm not sure if "exposure" is the right word to use in this context: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/lindseyellefson/fentanyl-accidental-exposure-police https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/lindseyellefson/fentany...
- xyzzy21 4y agoOr Covid vaccine.
- Krasnol 4y agoHow/why doesn't the article mention his last tweet thread?? https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1254006990440763393.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1254006990440763393.html Obviously the thought that David Enrich from the NYT destroyed his life....
- TheaomBen 4y ago[25 Apr. 2020]
- Krasnol 4y agoYes. Found dead exactly 2 years after those last tweets.
- jwilber 4y agoHuh? Two whole years and the exact day is supposed to be meaningful? Why? That’s basically the exact definition of a coincidence. I noted in the previous thread: Here’s a previous article David (the subject of the tweets) wrote about Val for the NYT. [0] After reading it, my take is that the comments were hostile, but I don’t suspect any foul play between the two. Just two men who, despite not necessarily respecting the other, worked together to further their own agendas. An excerpt: “... the Broeksmit family have warned me that Mr. Broeksmit is not to be trusted, and, well, they might have a point. His drug use has sent him reeling between manias and stupors. He has a maddening habit of leaping to outrageous conclusions and then bending facts to fit far-fetched theories. He fantasizes about seeing his story told by Hollywood, and I sometimes wonder whether he’s manipulating me to achieve that ambition. He can be impatient, erratic and abusive. A few days ago, irate that he was not named in a blurb for my book on Amazon, among other perceived slights, he sent me a string of texts claiming that he’d taken out a brokerage account in my name and traded on secret information I’d supposedly fed him. (This is not true.) A little later, he left me a voice mail message saying it was all a joke. Why do I put up with this? Because his trove of corporate emails, financial materials, boardroom presentations and legal reports is credible — even if he is not. “ Probably more relevant that his father was a Deutsch Bank exec who committed suicide, and he seemed to be shopping the leaks around for some time. Or that he was an apparent opioid user. [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/01/business/val-broeksmit-deutsche-bank-trump-whistle-blower.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/01/business/val-broeksmit-de...
- throwaway4good 4y agoWhat was the problem with Trump using Deutsche Bank?
- jonny_eh 4y agohttps://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/trumpinc/episodes/trump-inc-trump-deutsche-bank-its-complicated https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/trumpinc/episodes/trump...
- throwaway4good 4y agoIs it me or is there absolutely no meat there? The logic basically seems to be Trump uses DB, DB does business in Russia, therefore ...
- belorn 4y agoAt the end of the article there is a fairly good summery. Trump borrowed money from Deutsche Bank at apparent favorable terms. At the same time period, Deutsche Bank was been scrutinized and fined for its dealings in Russia, converting rubles into dollars in ways that bypass money laundering laws.
- Sakos 4y agotl;dr No bank was willing to loan him money and DB was desperately trying to become more relevant, so they facilitated Trump loaning from Russian investors. In a not so kosher way (ie, money laundering).
- 0xy 4y agoPractically everything you wrote is conjecture. There is zero evidence DB was a middleman for Russian investors for Trump loans. There is evidence DB was laundering money for shady Russians, however there is zero evidence any of that is linked to Trump.
- Sakos 4y agoI have no idea how to respond to this quickly without rehashing a dozen articles/reports. What I've stated has been clearly established.
- jwilber 4y agoTitle makes it seem like foul play, but I personally think not given the tumultuous history of the man being discussed (rip). Eg: There was a similar HN post when the same man went missing (almost exactly one year ago to the date): Deutsche Bank Whistleblower Vanishes https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26922463 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26922463
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- frereubu 4y agoI also think people have a tendency to underestimate the massive psychological pressure that comes from being a whistleblower in cases like this that involve governments and large, powerful organisations like Deutsche Bank.
- UberFly 4y ago"Enrich also wrote that Broeksmit had drug use issues and would often bend the truth to come up with “far-fetched theories.” But Broeksmit was a central figure in Enrich’s book..." Sounds pretty par for the course these days.
- khazhoux 4y agoFor the conspiracy-minded here, I ask: Why would any organization bother to murder a whistleblower who delivered documents over a year ago? He's no longer relevant.
- Doubtme 4y agoWell at this point is this even able to be considered a conspiracy. We all know what happened. Its sad hes dead obviously. But the feds should've protected their assets better.
- rosndo 4y agohttps://twitter.com/ScottMStedman/status/1518820453833355265 https://twitter.com/ScottMStedman/status/1518820453833355265
- Melting_Harps 4y ago> We all know what happened. Worth a watch [0], it's not his first (or his father's) run-in with these matters. 0: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXVVK5mokKw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXVVK5mokKw
- lawn 4y agoI'm not into conspiracies, but it could be a deterrent for future whistleblowers. "We'll get you when you think you've gotten away. You'll never be safe."
- konart 4y agoTo make a point? You do this to us - we do this to you. No statute of limitations.
- d--b 4y agoRevenge? Retribution? Vengeance? Retaliation? There is a reason why the witness protection program allows people to change identity for life and not just for the time they're relevant.
- raxxorraxor 4y ago
- swarnie 4y ago> fentanyl This stuff is almost mythical at this point. The only place i ever come across it is in news articles from the US. The fuck you boys doing over there?
- ncmncm 4y agoBlow, we imagine.
- mschuster91 4y agoEurope has the "advantage" of being on the same landmass as Afghanistan, which produces 90% of the opium and with it heroin consumed in the world, which means our drug addicts have somewhat better access than the US which mostly relies on overseas imports of illicit drugs other than cannabis.
- ChuckNorris89 4y agoWasn't the CIA also a big heroin dealer during the Afgan war, with military planes with "unspecified" cargo constantly taking off from there, so they can earn money for their black-ops projects?
- ncmncm 4y agoSure, "for the ... projects. Yeah, for them!" Just like Iran-Contra was about selling missiles to Iran to, er ... arm Contras! In fact there was never a speck of evidence where any of the missile money went. But CIA officers retire oddly comfortably, as a rule. They also imported ton after ton of cocaine to sell into LA to get black kids addicted. My brother used to see them unloading, off on the other side of the airport.
- elefanten 4y agoCitations across the globe are screaming in agony over how bad they’re needed here
- atdrummond 4y agoIt’s a shame that the people who leveraged his documents so heavily couldn’t help him more.
- imtemplain 4y ago
- pedro2 4y agoClearly only a drug user would be insane to whistleblow these days. Everyone else is just covering their own ass Don't worry, markets solve everything :)
- bulbosaur123 4y ago
- bichiliad 4y agoThis is probably a good reminder to anyone reading: if you can, get yourself naloxone and keep it with your first-aid supplies. You can get it without a prescription in most places, and there are many programs that will give you a few doses for free. It is easy to administer[0], and it has no effect on people without opiates in their system[1]. You may never need it, but having it handy it can mean the difference between life and death. [0]: https://www.health.ny.gov/publications/12028.pdf https://www.health.ny.gov/publications/12028.pdf [1]: https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugfacts/naloxone https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugfacts/naloxone
- JohnTHaller 4y agoI did the NYS training and have been carrying it for a couple years. They didn't have it for free due to the pandemic but they should again now that they're doing in person training again. I work in theater and comedy a bit and have multiple friends who are recovering addicts. I let folks there and in my apt building know that I keep it on me as part of my first aid stuff. I hope I never have to use it, but I'm glad I'm prepared if it's needed.
- bichiliad 4y agoThat's really awesome of you. I work in nightlife occasionally, and I keep a few doses with me (graciously provided from a local mutual aid network). The events I work with almost always have some stashed in their first aid as well. It's a sad thing to have to plan for, but it's really nice to work with folks who take overdoses seriously.
- JohnTHaller 4y agoThat's awesome of you, too! It's sad that it's needed, but I'm glad it exists. And here's hoping we never need it.
- simonblack 4y agoDefinitely suicide. Shot himself five times in the back of the head.
- azubinski 4y ago- Tovarisch, why did this whistleblower die? - He ate too much fentanyl. - Tovarisch, but why is this whistleblower bruised all over his body? - He didn't want to eat fentanyl.