Maybe it's me..Four page NYT story Riggs Bank......

[Bonhomme Richard]

and not one mention of Jonathan Bush, President of Riggs Investment Management Company. Tell me about "watch what you say, watch what you do". Unbelieveable. It's got everything, Pinochet, Saudi's, Oil, etc......

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/19/business/19BANK.final.html?hp

"At Riggs Bank, a Tangled Path Led to Scandal"

"The scrutiny of the bank involves accounts it held for Gen. Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean dictator, and for the Saudi Arabian Embassy. It comes at a time when several new books and the documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" have put a spotlight on the kingdom's ties to the Bush administration. The sources of about $700 million in cash and investment accounts at Riggs Bank owned by the African nation of Equatorial Guinea or some of its leaders are also being examined, at a time when American companies have been courting that oil-rich nation to secure petroleum sources outside the Middle East."

" A Dictator's Cash

At a meeting with regulators at the headquarters of Riggs Bank two years ago, Barbara B. Allbritton, a Riggs board member, was offended that the bank had to end its relationship with a valued client, General Pinochet, according to the report and testimony at the Senate hearing."

"The Saudi Funds

By October 2002, when Mrs. Allbritton voiced her resentment to regulators about losing General Pinochet's business, another problem was about to engulf Riggs. In November, Newsweek magazine reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was examining Saudi Arabian Embassy accounts at the bank in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks.

The F.B.I. investigation, focusing on accounts controlled by the wife of Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Saudi Arabia's longtime ambassador to the United States, was news to regulators. Once again, as the Senate report showed, outside forces were making them examine Riggs more closely and Riggs executives were proving to be, at best, indifferent gatekeepers"

"Suitcases of Cash

When regulators began scouring the Saudi accounts in January 2003, yet another media report raised questions about the bank's behavior. The Los Angeles Times reported suspicious activities in Riggs accounts controlled by the government of Equatorial Guinea, and a questionable relationship between a Riggs executive and that country's leader, sparking another regulatory examination of the bank's intersection with a dictator."

[gandalf]

1. But certainly Johnny had nothing to do with the money-laundering

It's just bad luck for him that some of his underlings did not question their clients enough. But, to be honest, a bank is not the inquisition. /sarcasm

I was astonished not to find the name of Jonathan, too, in the LBN thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x694459

[SpiralHawk]

2. Yes, it is you, OZ

No patriotic American wants to know that the pResident's Skull & Bones uncle, Jonathan, is a key officer of this incredibly shady -- and mixed up with funding terrorists --bank.

I mean, what do you think we are, voyeurs or something?

Please go back to your Billy Beer, and let the rest of us True Patriots enjoy the latest developments in the Martha Stewart trial.

Oh, and by the way, I heard a rumor that choco rations may be increased 2 mg. next quarter. So stop emphasizing the negative, and Always Look on the Bright Side.

[seemslikeadream]

3. Jonathan who?

WaPo: Allbritton Loses Riggs Bank (front page, day 3)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x691609

[seemslikeadream]

4. AND ------------ PNC to acquire 'clean' Riggs

PNC to acquire 'clean' Riggs
With its acquisition of troubled Riggs Bank in Washington, D.C., PNC Financial Services said it expects Riggs' current regulatory issues to be mostly resolved before the deal closes. However, the merger agreement gives PNC the right to walk away if significant new regulatory troubles arise for Riggs before then.
The Riggs name also will disappear and be replaced by PNC at the bank's 50 branches in Washington, Maryland and Virginia.

"The Riggs we will acquire will not be the same as the Riggs of today," PNC chief executive James Rohr said in a conference call with analysts.



"We will be acquiring a clean company, to the best of our knowledge."




PNC agreed Friday to buy Riggs National Corp., which is under investigation for allegedly failing to prevent, and in some cases fostering money laundering, for about $779 million in stock and cash.

Its Riggs Bank subsidiary, an old-line Washington institution with deep ties to the diplomatic community, has been sanctioned by federal regulators and is under congressional investigation for allegedly helping hide money for former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and other lapses.

As part of the deal with the larger Pittsburgh-based PNC, Riggs will shed all of its diplomatic and international businesses -- the source of its regulatory troubles.
MORE
http://www.cincypost.com/2004/07/17/pnc07-17-2004.html