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One word you never want to hear your dentist say is
“Oops.” Likewise, a word you wouldn’t want to hear a top
executive of your bank say is “Yikes!!!!”
Yet that’s exactly the comment that a Wachovia
bank executive wrote in an internal memo in 2005 when she came across
alarming numbers suggesting that Wachovia was involved in widespread fraud.
In fact, she followed that with “Double Yikes!!!!” Her
exclamatory memo is significant because it’s now part of a damning
body of evidence revealing that not only was the bank involved in a scam
that stole millions of dollars from unsuspecting victims but also that top
officials didn’t stop it when they learned about it.
About a year ago, lawsuits were filed against several
banks accusing them of handling transactions from companies that swindled
elderly people. The fraud involved the use of unsigned checks to withdraw
funds from the bank accounts of the victims. It could only work if the
swindlers had a bank that was willing to be the middleman, processing the
thousands of unsigned checks deposited by the swindlers.
Wachovia was one of the willing middlemen, but the
bank executives claimed last year that they knew nothing of the thefts
until the lawsuits were filed. Now, however, internal documents —
including the Yikes!!!! memo — show that they did know but kept doing
business with the swindling companies because the bank was able to collect
large fees from them. As one Wachovia executive exulted in a memo written
two years before the lawsuits, “We are making a ton of money from
them.”
Wachovia kept processing the fraudulent checks,
helping the companies illegally drain as much as $400 million from
people’s accounts. It’s proof again that the biggest bank
robbers are bankers.
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator,
columnist, and author.
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