Courtesy of Pam Martens.
Jack Lew Testifying at His Confirmation Hearing, February 13, 2013
Yesterday Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown sent a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, asking him to investigate potential U.S. involvement in the money laundering issues recently exposed by the leak of the Panama papers from the law firm, Mossack Fonseca. The Senators told Lew:
“The Justice Department is reportedly reviewing this matter to determine whether there may be ‘high-level, foreign corruption that might have a link to the United States or the U.S. financial system.’ But, as the primary agency charged with protecting the integrity of the U.S. financial system and enforcing our laws against money laundering and terrorist financing, we strongly urge the Treasury Department to conduct its own inquiry into Mossack Fonseca’s activities and its clients.”
According to journalists who have seen the documents that were leaked by an unknown source, there were 617 “banks, law firms, accountants, company incorporators and other middlemen” operating in the United States that are implicated by the document leak in terms of helping clients conceal their assets.
Unfortunately, Senators Warren and Brown appear to have short memories. Otherwise, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew would be the last person that comes to mind to conduct an investigation to protect “the integrity of the U.S. financial system.” How Lew was confirmed by the U.S. Senate for U.S. Treasury Secretary remains an open mystery at Wall Street On Parade.
Lew had previously worked as an executive for the very division of Citigroup that blew up the bank during the 2008 financial crisis and cost taxpayers the largest bank bailout in U.S. history.
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