4 Treas agents track bin Laden and Saddam money, while 21 work Castro

[coda]

AP Enterprise: Four Treasury agents track bin Laden and Saddam money, while 21 work Castro


By JOHN SOLOMON
The Associated Press
4/29/04 2:41 AM


WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Treasury Department agency entrusted with blocking the financial resources of terrorists told Congress that at the end of last year it had just four full-time employees dedicated to investigating Osama bin Laden's and Saddam Hussein's wealth while nearly two dozen were working on Cuban embargo violations.

In addition, the Office of Foreign Assets Control said that between 1990 and 2003 it opened just 93 enforcement investigations related to terrorism and collected just $9,425 in fines for terrorism financing violations since 1994.

In contrast, OFAC opened 10,683 enforcement investigations since 1990 for possible violations of the long-standing economic embargo against Fidel Castro's regime, and collected more than $8 million in fines since 1994, mostly from people who sent money to, did business with or traveled to Cuba without permission.


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As for bin Laden, OFAC wrote that its dealings with Saudi officials and bin Laden's family since 1999 have led it to conclude that the al-Qaida leader did not have a fortune of $300 million or more as some media reports have suggested.

"He may have had some wealth, but not in this range," OFAC wrote. Instead, OFAC said bin Laden used his status as a "trusted person" from a wealthy Saudi family to collect and distribute charitable funds in the name of radical Islam, essentially underwriting a recruiting and training network that became al-Qaida.




more........



http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/business/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story ...



http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/business/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?f0012_BC_Terrorism-Financing&&news&newsflash-financial

[izzie]

1. So people in Fa. vote. We need to guess on that?

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[Bozita]

2. U.S. Fines Couple for Cuba Travel --- Don't you feel safer already?

from Cong. Bernie Sanders' (I-VT) website:

http://bernie.house.gov/documents/articles/20040421093319.asp

Published on 4/21/2004 in the Valley News
U.S. Fines Couple for Cuba Travel
by Jodie Tillman

South Strafford Writers Appeal $55,000 Sanction for Three Trips

South Strafford -- Travel books can read like expense reports, detailing the writers' gracious accommodations and very best dinners and wine.

But for a South Strafford couple, the real expense can't be found written anywhere in their bicyclists' travel guide to Cuba. The real costs did not come until they got home.

Wally and Barbara Smith are facing $55,000 worth of federal fines for violating the 40-year-old U.S. sanctions prohibiting most American citizens from spending money in Cuba. The couple spent a total of six months in the country while researching their Bicycling Cuba , published in 2002.

“It's outrageous that they (sanctions) exist, that they curtail people's travel to Cuba,” said Wally Smith, 61.

more...

[Minstrel Boy]

3. Naturally, because Castro was the mastermind of 9/11.

Just trying to stay ahead of the curve, here.