How Wachovia and other US banks help fund Mexican Drug Cartels

How Wachovia And Major U.S. Banks Have Spent The Past Four Years Helping Mexican Drug Cartels

Vince Veneziani | Jun. 29, 2010, 8:26 AM | 1,009 | comment 10

wachoviaapsmallSince 2006, thousands of people have been killed in the ongoing drug war between Mexican cartels and government forces.

A new must-read article in the August issue of Bloomberg Markets smashes open the world of shadow banking between large banks in the United States and their role in the funding of Mexican drug operations.

Back in March, Wachovia struck a deal with Federal prosecutors under which the bank admitted it didn't do enough to prevent money-laundering between criminal organizations, in which illicit funds transferred flew past the $300 billion mark. Now Wachovia faces charges from the Department of Justice over violating the Bank Secrecy Act - a first for the bulge bracket of large U.S. banks.

Similarly, traffickers used accounts at Bank of America to purchase three planes that ended up smuggling 10 tons of cocaine. "Federal agents caught people who work for Mexican cartels depositing illicit funds in Bank of America accounts in Atlanta, Chicago and Brownsville, Texas, from 2002 to 2009," says the article.

Read more: [link to www.businessinsider.com]