Does anyone wonder WHY in the world would President Barack
Hussein Obama, went to such great lengths to cover-up what at first thought to
be part of the Iran nuke deal, to the tune of nearly a half billion DOLLARS to
Iran in foreign currency? That ½ BILLION now pretty much thought to be a ransom
payment for release of dual American-Iran citizens.
NOW AGAIN! It has been discovered that ½ BILLION was really $$$$1.7 BILLION!
The House Intelligence Committee suspects all this cash was
release illegally in an Obama money laundering scheme to avoid legal
restrictions imposed by Congress. AGAIN the rest of the billions of dollars was
wired to European banks then transferred into foreign currency and sent by that
discovered clandestine unmarked cargo jet to Iran.
How has Obama gotten away with such overt illegalities
without a hint of impeachment proceedings!? Talk about a corrupt government.
The Executive Branch actively tries to deceive the Legislative Branch with a
packed Leftist Judicial Branch undoubtedly waiting in the wings to claim
nothing to see here – move along.
Here’s the Washington
Free Beacon Story on Obama’s money laundering scheme to one of
America’s foreign enemies in Iran.
JRH 9/19/16
*****************
Obama Admin ‘Laundered’ U.S. Cash to Iran Via N.Y. Fed,
Euro Banks
Congressman:
‘Administration laundered this money in order to circumvent U.S. law’
By Adam Kredo
September 19,
2016 5:00 am
A member of the House Intelligence Committee is accusing the Obama
administration of laundering some $1.7 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars to Iran
through a complicated network that included the New York Federal Reserve and
several European banks, according to conversations with sources and new
information obtained by the lawmaker and viewed by the Washington Free
Beacon.
New disclosures made by the Treasury Department to Rep. Mike Pompeo
(R., Kan.), a House Intelligence Committee member, show that an initial $400
million cash payment to Iran was wired to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
(FRBNY) and then converted from U.S. dollars into Swiss francs and moved to an
account at the Swiss National Bank, according to a copy of communication obtained exclusively
by the Free Beacon.
Once the money was transferred to the Swiss Bank, the “FRBNY withdrew
the funds from its account as Swiss franc banknotes and the U.S. Government
physically transported them to Geneva” before personally overseeing the
handover to an agent of Iran’s central bank, according to the documents.
These disclosures shine new light on how the Obama administration moved
millions of dollars from U.S. accounts to European banks in order to facilitate
three separate cash payments to Iran totaling $1.7 billion.
The latest information is adding fuel to accusations the Obama
administration arranged the payment in this fashion to skirt U.S. sanctions
laws and give Iran the money for the release of U.S. hostages, in what many
have called a ransom.
Congress has been investigating the circumstances surrounding
the payment for months and said the administration is blocking certain requests
for more detailed information about the cash transaction with Iran.
“By withholding critical details and stonewalling congressional
inquiries, President Obama seems to be hiding whether or not he and others
broke U.S. law by sending $1.7 billion in cash to Iran,” Pompeo told the Free
Beacon. “But Americans can plainly see that the Obama administration
laundered this money in order to circumvent U.S. law and appease the Islamic
Republic of Iran.”
As new details emerge, congressional critics such as Pompeo and Sen.
Ted Cruz (R., Texas) are beginning to suspect the U.S. government laundered the
money in order to provide Tehran with immediate access.
“Think about this timeline: the U.S. withdraws $400 million in cash
from the Swiss National Bank and then physically transports it to another city
to hand-off to Iranian officials—three days before Iran releases four American
hostages,” Pompeo said. “But it gets worse: less than a week after this,
the U.S. again sends hordes of cash to Iran. As we speak, Iran is still
holding three more Americans hostage and I fear what precedent this
administration has set.”
The initial $400 million payment to Iran was initiated on Jan. 14,
2016, according to information sent by the Treasury Department to Pompeo.
“For the first settlement payment in January, Treasury assisted the
Defense Finance and Accounting Services (DFAS) in crafting a wire instruction
to transfer the $400 million in principal from the Iran FMS [Foreign Military
Sales program] account on January 14, 2016,” the document states.
“Treasury worked with DFAS and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
(FRBNY), which was acting as Treasury’s financial agent, so that the funds were
converted from dollars to Swiss francs and credited to a FRBNY account at the
Swiss National Bank (SNB), which is the central bank of the Switzerland [sic],”
it adds.
The U.S. hostages were released shortly after Iran received this
initial cash payment.
The additional $1.3 billion cash payment was facilitated by the Dutch
Central Bank, which helped the United States transfer the money to an account
before it was converted into euros.
The Dutch Bank “then disbursed the funds as euro banknotes in the
Netherlands to an official from the Central Bank of Iran.”
The payment was broken down into two separate transactions that
occurred on Jan. 22 and Feb. 5.
Senior administration officials maintain that the transaction was
completely legal and not paid out as part of a ransom to Iran. These officials
have said that cash was the “most reliable” method to ensure Iran received
immediate access to the funds, as its banking system is still under sanctions.
Officials from the Treasury and Justice Departments would not respond
to Free Beacon requests for comment about the exact type of
legal approval given prior to the cash payment.
One congressional adviser who works closely on the Iran issue told the Free
Beacon that the Obama administration appears to have involved multiple
branches of the government in order to help conceal the cash payment to Iran.
“It looks as if the White House made just about every corner of the
executive branch complicit in covering up the extent of its payments to Iran,”
the source said. “Congress was already aggressively looking into payments
involving the State, Treasury, and Energy Departments. Now it’s the Justice
Department, too. We already know that top officials from Justice objected
strongly to the ransom deal, but were overruled. Congress wants to know what
happened and why.”
A senior congressional aide familiar with investigations regarding the
matter told the Free Beacon that the administration continues
to hide information from lawmakers about the cash payment.
“The American public and Members of Congress understand psychology—if
the administration is hiding something, there is a reason. President
Obama, Secretary Kerry and others would like to pretend that their months of
evasiveness and stonewalling regarding Iran are normal, but their behavior
indicates otherwise” the source said. “Refusing to answer basic questions
about millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars paid to the world’s largest state sponsor
of terrorism only invites more questions.”
Recent reports have raised questions about how much of this
money may be spent to fund Iran’s international terror operations and the
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Lawmakers examining who in Iran assumed control of the money have told the Free Beacon that
at least part of the cash was likely spent to fund the IRGC’s operations.
________________
Adam Kredo is senior writer for the Washington Free Beacon. Formerly an award-winning political reporter for the Washington Jewish Week, where he frequently broke national news, Kredo’s work has been featured in outlets such as the Jerusalem Post, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and Politico, among others. He lives in Maryland with his comic books. His Twitter handle is @Kredo0. His email address is kredo@freebeacon.com.
©2016
All Rights Reserved
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