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How about basic decency? You have to admit that there is a parallel here with many "everyday" drug cases, and that the punishment of ordinary people in paralle

by wprl 13y ago

How about basic decency? You have to admit that there is a parallel here with many "everyday" drug cases, and that the punishment of ordinary people in parallel situations is drastically disproportionate to the punishment of HSBC.

cynicalkane 13y ago
It's extremely hard to send drug kingpins to jail, and these are people who are actually breaking the law. I'm sure, however, that the US government can try to prosecute mid-level HSBC managers and maybe some random bank tellers in Jersey and Mexico and wherever. Somehow I doubt this is what the article author actually wants to happen.
- moocowduckquack 13y ago
  "I'm sure, however, that the US government can try to prosecute mid-level HSBC managers and maybe some random bank tellers in Jersey and Mexico and wherever." They are not even doing that. And given your view that the executives should not get done because of mid level managers being responsible, what do you think of the fact that they are not being held to account either? Or do you honestly believe that this money was laundered through HSBC with nobody at HSBC helping?
rayiner 13y ago
If you're a bank, your services will be used to launder money. It's guaranteed to happen. All you can do is implement controls to keep that activity below a certain threshold. And banks reasonably want to implement as few controls as they can get away with while complying with the law, because it costs them money to do so. Failure to implement sufficient controls for compliance is not tantamount to an intent to assist money laundering. There's absolutely no parallel here to the situation of ordinary people. If you see that Joe Schmoe's bank account was used to launder money from a drug cartel, you can very reasonably infer that he intended to assist that cartel. There's no reasonable explanation that involves trying to save money or hassle on regulatory compliance issues. Those sorts of transactions don't just accidentally or incidentally happen to ordinary people.

by wprl 13y ago

cynicalkane 13y ago

It's extremely hard to send drug kingpins to jail, and these are people who are actually breaking the law. I'm sure, however, that the US government can try to prosecute mid-level HSBC managers and maybe some random bank tellers in Jersey and Mexico and wherever. Somehow I doubt this is what the article author actually wants to happen.

moocowduckquack 13y ago
"I'm sure, however, that the US government can try to prosecute mid-level HSBC managers and maybe some random bank tellers in Jersey and Mexico and wherever." They are not even doing that. And given your view that the executives should not get done because of mid level managers being responsible, what do you think of the fact that they are not being held to account either? Or do you honestly believe that this money was laundered through HSBC with nobody at HSBC helping?

rayiner 13y ago

If you're a bank, your services will be used to launder money. It's guaranteed to happen. All you can do is implement controls to keep that activity below a certain threshold. And banks reasonably want to implement as few controls as they can get away with while complying with the law, because it costs them money to do so. Failure to implement sufficient controls for compliance is not tantamount to an intent to assist money laundering. There's absolutely no parallel here to the situation of ordinary people. If you see that Joe Schmoe's bank account was used to launder money from a drug cartel, you can very reasonably infer that he intended to assist that cartel. There's no reasonable explanation that involves trying to save money or hassle on regulatory compliance issues. Those sorts of transactions don't just accidentally or incidentally happen to ordinary people.