|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Department of Justice Press Conference |
|
Author: |
Eric Holder |
|
Title: |
Attorney General |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
Department of Justice |
|
Notes: |
Banking Blockade |
|
|
Title: |
Justice Department Sues American Express, Mastercard and Visa to Eliminate Rules Restricting Price Competition; Reaches Settlement with Visa and Mastercard |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
Office of Public Affairs, Department of Justice |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MR. CROWLEY: Good afternoon and welcome to the Department of State. Obviously, Im sure the Secretary of State answered all of your questions on that particular subject. Let me mention just briefly a couple of other things before coming back to the issue that Im sure youre focused on today.
The Secretary this morning had a very productive session with Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu. They did talk about the WikiLeaks issue, and the foreign minister appreciated the direct and candid comments that the Secretary provided.
[...]
With that
QUESTION: P.J., just a couple short things on the whole WikiLeaks fiasco. One, have you gotten any formal complaints or protests from foreign governments about this? I realize it wasnt you that released them, but are you aware of any formal (inaudible)?
MR. CROWLEY: I am confident that from embassies first and in succeeding days, we will hear reaction from various governments to bring you to the present point. The Secretary made a number of calls over the weekend to her counterparts. And from Deputy Secretary Jim Steinberg, Under Secretary Bill Burns, the assistant secretaries, ambassadors, we did everything we can to reach out to governments in advance of the anticipated release of these documents. We will be doing follow-up calls during the course of the week.
Were conscious of the fact that probably the stories that weve seen today are not the last ones to be reported on this subject, so we are going to continue this diplomatic outreach for as long as it takes. But I would expect that we will be having feedback from governments during the course of this process. Im just not aware of any particular feedback at this point. Obviously, the Secretary had a chance to talk to Foreign Minister Davutoglu, as she indicated when she met with you earlier. She will have a number of conversations this week with her counterparts and other leaders during the OSCE Summit. So well be getting some feedback.
QUESTION: Okay, and then the second thing is that do you there is a lot of stuff in these cables that talks about the what diplomats report back.
MR. CROWLEY: Thats a diplomatic term, 'stuff.'
QUESTION: Yeah. (Laughter.) Talks about what diplomats what American diplomats are expected to report back to Washington about their host government or foreign other foreign leaders. Theres been a lot of handwringing, at least in Europe, about this kind of about some of this kind of reporting in terms of the German political scene and the candid assessments of foreign leaders as well as this intelligence-gathering or gathering of biometric data at the UN. Will any of that change or are these going to continue to be kind of standard operating procedure for diplomats abroad? Or are you --
MR. CROWLEY: Well, and Ill just establish the principle up front that were not going to talk about any particular cable.
In our conversations with our counterparts around the world, I think there is, in diplomatic circles, an understanding that this is what diplomats do. We have our diplomats posted around the world, many in challenging circumstances. They are trying theyre interacting with government officials; theyre interacting with members of civil society; theyre trying to interpret events on the ground. These events are increasingly at a more rapid pace than perhaps might have occurred in the past. They report back what they see, what they hear to the State Department here in Washington and to other agencies across the government. Many of these reports are raw, unvarnished. They provide on-the-ground perspective. They inform policies. They inform actions.
But as the Secretary made clear, policies are set here in Washington. The information that is collected and provided is useful. In some cases its accurate. In some cases its not. In some cases it might be a vantage point from one foxhole that might may or may not necessarily represent a broader perspective.
But this is what diplomats do. Weve very proud of what our diplomats do. We will learn from this experience. As the Secretary has said, weve already made adjustments in how we the access that we provide to our reporting documents. But we will not change how we do diplomacy around the world.
QUESTION: So the answer the short answer to my question was no, its not going to change anything?
MR. CROWLEY: I liked my answer better.
QUESTION: Well, is that --
MR. CROWLEY: No. I mean we --
QUESTION: No. You --
MR. CROWLEY: Its a very valid point. As the Secretary said, in some cases people leak information because they think theres been wrongdoing. This is information that helps people understand how we conduct the foreign policy of the United States day in and day out in difficult assignments around the world. Were very proud of our diplomats. We do we think they do an excellent job of helping inform policy. Were not going to change what we do.
QUESTION: Okay. So their instructions from Washington wont change. And then the corollary to that is that are you concerned at all that some people might water-down or be less candid in their appraisals of people because of this?
MR. CROWLEY: Well, I think the Secretary last night sent a message to the troops, if you will. And well be making clear that we value the diplomatic work that is done at posts all over the world. Well we are going to we have already and we will continue to look to see how information is stored, who has access to that information, both within our department and across the government. But certainly, without getting into any specific cable, what you see here is information that is very, very important to the conduct of the foreign policy of the United States.
Jill.
QUESTION: P.J., specifically on that question of how this information is stored, the understanding that we seem to have is that post 9/11, in an effort to avoid stove-piping, they brought a lot of this information together under the DOD. Does the Secretary have a view at this point I know Jack Lew said each organization, agency, now has to study, put together a team. But does the Secretary believe that it is a good idea for State Department cables and other communication to be in a system along with DOD?
MR. CROWLEY: Well, we have stood here and weve talked about whole-of-government efforts on our policy. Theres a great deal of interaction between the State Department and the Defense Department and across other agencies of government. So you do have to share information to be able to have a common perspective on the development and execution of both a foreign policy that includes a military dimension and a civil dimension. So the sharing of information is vitally important to the coordination and conduct of our national security policies. That should not change.
I think the other phenomenon one phenomenon, of course, is the imperative after 9/11 of a need to share. And we will evaluate that imperative against the need to protect or the need to know. And so this will be something that we will be reviewing, and there is obviously tension between those two approaches.
I think the other thing weve learned here is that it is not just the greater coordination and interaction across agencies, but its also the digitization of the information that is comes into the State Department. If you go back probably 25 years, these were done by paper and teletypes and so on and so forth. We do have a digitized system that allows us to report in real time. That has great value and benefit.
But we have taken steps to review who has access to the networks and the databases on which our information and the information of other agencies is resident, and we will tighten up those access standards as we go forward. But we are have been for many months reviewing the implications of this expected release.
QUESTION: P.J. --
QUESTION: P.J. --
MR. CROWLEY: Yeah. Charlie.
QUESTION: With all respect, you didnt answer Matts question about whether the language whether you expect that the language from people reporting from the field to change or Ill use the word to soften, but thats my word or do you expect them to be as frank |
| |
Name(s:) |
Phillip J. Crowley |
| |
Title: |
Assistant Secretary |
| |
Agency(ies): |
Public Affairs, Department of State |
|
Concerning: |
Cablegate, WikiLeaks 24/7 Task Force, Banking Blockade |
|
Url: |
Url Link
|
|
Archive: |
Archive Link
http://archive.is/KQi8j |
|
Title: |
Daily Press Briefing - November 29, 2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
An Interview With WikiLeaks' Julian Assange |
|
Author: |
Andy Greenberg |
|
Title: |
Reporter |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
Forbes |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
Title: |
Facing Threat From WikiLeaks, Bank Plays Defense |
|
Author: |
Nelson Schwartz |
|
Title: |
Reporter |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
New York Times |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On January 2, The New York Times wrote about a late night conference call held by Bank of America executives on November 30. The reason for the call was to deal with a statement given by WikiLeaks' Julian Assange on November 29, where he said that he intended to 'take down' a major American bank. The country's third largest financial institution needed to get the jump on WikiLeaks, so they started scouring thousands of documents, and auditing physical assets.
Shortly after the late night conference call, the email from Hunton and Williams was sent. Booz Allen Hamilton, according to the Times, was the firm brought in to help manage the bank's internal review. |
| |
Name(s:) |
Steven Ragan |
| |
Title: |
Reporter |
| |
Agency(ies): |
Tech Herald |
|
Url: |
Url Link
|
|
Title: |
An Interview With WikiLeaks' Julian Assange |
|
Author: |
Andy Greenberg |
|
Title: |
Reporter |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
Forbes |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
Title: |
Facing Threat From WikiLeaks, Bank Plays Defense |
|
Author: |
Nelson Schwartz |
|
Title: |
Reporter |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
New York Times |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
WASHINGTON Bank of America entities have agreed to pay a total of $137.3 million in restitution to federal and state agencies for its participation in a conspiracy to rig bids in the municipal bond derivatives market and as a condition of its admission into the Department of Justice's Antitrust Corporate Leniency Program, the Department of Justice announced today.
Bank of America entered into agreements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC), and 20 State Attorneys General. The global resolution with these federal and state entities provides for payment of restitution to the IRS and to municipalities harmed by Bank of America's anticompetitive conduct in the municipal bond derivatives market. In a related matter, Bank of America entered into a written agreement with the Federal Reserve Board to address certain remedial measures.
According to agreements announced today, Bank of America employees engaged in illegal conduct, including bid rigging and other deceptive practices, in connection with the marketing and sale of tax-exempt municipal bond derivatives contracts.
Bank of America was the first and only entity to come forward and report its wrongdoing to the Department of Justice before the department opened its investigation into anticompetitive conduct in the municipal bond derivatives industry. The department's ongoing investigation has resulted in charges against seven executives and one corporate entity and guilty pleas by eight executives for antitrust and related federal crimes. The investigation remains active and ongoing.
'The Department of Justice's Antitrust Corporate Leniency Program is essential to our criminal enforcement of the antitrust laws,' said Christine Varney, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division. 'Bank of America's disclosure of wrongdoing and cooperation has led to an aggressive, ongoing investigation by the Department of Justice into anticompetitive activity in the municipal bond derivatives industry. The bank's participation in the leniency program has also resulted in today's resolution to address the harm caused by its wrongdoing. The Division's investigation of this matter continues and the prosecution of anticompetitive conduct in the financial markets remains our highest priority.'
As a condition of its admission into the Department of Justice's Antitrust Corporate Leniency Program, Bank of America was required to be the first entity to self report the anticompetitive conduct, acknowledge its wrongdoing, provide ongoing cooperation in the investigation and make full restitution to the victims of the conspiracy. Bank of America continues to provide significant cooperation to the federal and state enforcement officials in their ongoing parallel investigations in the municipal bond derivatives industry.
The Department of Justice's Antitrust Corporate Leniency Program is designed to deter and detect anticompetitive behavior. Through the Leniency Program, a corporation can avoid criminal conviction and fines, and individuals can avoid criminal conviction, prison terms and fines, if the corporation or individual is the first to report participation in a criminal antitrust violation and if other specified requirements of the program are met. The requirements of the program include self-reporting, acknowledgment of wrongdoing, full cooperation with the department's investigation into the conduct, and payment of restitution to victims. The requirements provide the division with critical information to conduct investigations and enforce the criminal antitrust laws.
With the agreements announced today, Bank of America has met its obligation, under the Leniency Program, to pay full restitution to the IRS and municipalities based on anticompetitive conduct identified by these federal and state agencies. The bank's agreements with the SEC, IRS, OCC and State Attorneys General represent the substantial benefits for victims that can result from the Department of Justice's Antitrust Corporate Leniency Program, and reflect Bank of America's commitment to address the harm caused by the conduct it discovered.
As a result of its voluntary disclosure of its anticompetitive conduct and its ongoing cooperation, Bank of America will not be required to pay penalties as a part of the agreements reached today. Upon successful completion of cooperation and other requirements of the Leniency Program, Bank of America and its current employees who have cooperated with the ongoing investigation will not be prosecuted by the Antitrust Division for the reported conduct. The Antitrust Division's investigation regarding other entities and individuals continues.
More information about the Department of Justice's Antitrust Corporate Leniency Program is available at: www.justice.gov/atr/public/criminal/leniency.htm.
The Antitrust Division and other agencies involved in this matter are part of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes. For more information on the task force, visit www.StopFraud.gov. |
| |
Agency(ies): |
Office of Public Affairs, Department of Justice |
|
Concerning: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Url: |
Url Link
|
|
Archive: |
Archive Link
http://archive.is/fJMrC |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Teenager held over WikiLeaks assaults |
|
Author: |
Tim Bradshaw, Joseph Menn |
|
Title: |
Reporter |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
Financial Times |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade, PayPal |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Teenager held over WikiLeaks assaults |
|
Author: |
Tim Bradshaw, Joseph Menn |
|
Title: |
Reporter |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
Financial Times |
|
Concerning: |
"EU-US, Banking Blockade, PayPal |
|
|
Title: |
The Executive Director |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
European Network and Information Security Agency, ENISA |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
2010-12-17 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Teenager held over WikiLeaks assaults |
|
Author: |
Tim Bradshaw, Joseph Menn |
|
Title: |
Reporter |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
Financial Times |
|
Concerning: |
"EU-US, Banking Blockade, PayPal |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
2011-07-08 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Title: |
Banking Blockade |
|
Authoring or Creator Agency: |
WikiLeaks |
|
Concerning: |
"Banking Blockade |
|
|
|
Archive Link |
|
