NYT - July 17th: PNC Financial to Acquire Riggs National

[fearnobush]

PNC Financial to Acquire Riggs National
By TIMOTHY L. O'BRIEN

Published: July 17, 2004

WASHINGTON, July 16 - PNC Financial Services, the Pittsburgh bank, said Friday that it would acquire the venerable and beleaguered Riggs National Corporation for $779 million in stock and cash. The deal ends Riggs's independence, but does not fully put to rest all the problems engulfing the bank.

Riggs, which is based here, is mired in investigations of possible money laundering and terrorist financing through Saudi Arabian and Equatorial Guinean accounts at the bank. The sale comes after a scathing Senate report released late Wednesday that portrays Riggs as a willing facilitator of possibly illicit financial deals involving a corrupt, brutal regime in the oil-rich Equatorial Guinea as well as years of shady interactions with Chile's former dictator, Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

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Money-laundering scandals involving Citigroup, the Bank of New York and other leading companies were swept under the rug by regulators and bankers anxious for quiet resolutions, and the Riggs sale appears to be in keeping with that tradition, critics say. Regulators have already acknowledged lapses in their oversight of Riggs.

More...

<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/17/business/17bank.html>

So why won't the so called Liberal NYT media report on uncle John - Uncle to Bush. Jonathan Bush a CEO of Riggs Bank

Other links: Riggs - "may have had ties to two Sept. 11 hijackers."

<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2008746>

<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x690532>