-->Auswirkung von Patriot Act.

gilt für alle Banken dieser Welt mit Geschäftszweig in USA; vor die Wahl gestellt, ihre Geschäfte dort weiterführen zu können oder die Gelder"verdächtigter" Kunden herauszurücken, was werden sie wohl tun?!!

Und - beim Einsatz dieses"Werkzeugs" sind der Fantasie keinerlei
Grenzen gesetzt; wenn's um das"Wohl des Heimatlandes" geht ist, wie wir wissen
schnell mal einer zum Terroristen deklariert.



"The Justice Department has begun using its expanded
counterterrorism powers to seize millions of dollars
from foreign banks that do business in the United States,
creating tensions with the State Department and some allies.
Law enforcement officials say the tool has proven invaluable
in seizing ill-gotten money that criminals hide overseas
and that was once out of the government's reach. Under the
counterterrorism measures approved by Congress after the
Sept. 11 attacks, prosecutors are not even required to
trace the money back to the target of an investigation.
Officials at the State Department, however, have raised
concerns over the practice — in part because most of the
seizures have involved fraud and money-laundering
investigations that are unrelated to terrorism.
The Justice Department has seized at least 15 foreign-based
bank accounts in the United States in recent months,
confiscating what prosecutors say they believe to be
tainted money belonging to overseas banks in Israel, Oman,
Taiwan, India, Belize and elsewhere, according to law
enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Other seizures are also being considered, officials said.
"This is a process of last resort," said a senior law
enforcement official. American diplomats"are worried
about it, and we understand that, which is why we want
to use this judiciously," said the official.
Traditionally in money laundering and terror financing
cases, federal authorities have worked through
international law enforcement treaties in requesting
that a country that is home to a foreign bank move to
freeze"dirty money" and turn it over to the United States.
In countries with no treaty with the United States,
American authorities say, their efforts often ran
into dead ends.
But a little-noticed provision in the sweeping antiterrorism
legislation passed in October 2001, gave federal authorities
in such cases the power to seize money that passes through
banks in the United States without notifying the foreign
government. Most overseas banks maintain what are called
"correspondent accounts" in American banks, allowing them
to exchange American currency and handle other financial
transactions in this country. Section 319 of the Patriot
Act, as the legislation that grew out of the Sept. 11
attacks is known, allows federal authorities to seize
money from the foreign bank's correspondent account if
they can convince a judge that the money deposited
overseas at the bank was obtained illicitly.
Law enforcement officials said the Justice Department had
employed the new tool in about a half-dozen investigations,
seizing money from at least 15 bank accounts. Most of those
came in recent months and involved fraud and laundering
cases, officials said. Law enforcement officials said some
of the seizures have involved money that they suspect was
helping to finance terrorism, but they declined to discuss
details. Officials also see the measure as a potentially
powerful tool in seizing money from drug traffickers.
"It was a strange thing for the banks," said a financial
investigator with the Bureau of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement in New York who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"There was resistance initially, because they weren't
exactly sure what to do. They'd never seen something like
this before."
The seizure power has opened up doors once closed in
financial crime investigations, the investigator said.
"Now we can get ahold of money where we couldn't before,"
he said."But we proceed very cautiously. It's such a
powerful tool, you could knock the economy of a country on
its head if it were a big enough case."
Charles A. Intriago, a specialist in money laundering law
in Miami who publishes Money Laundering Alert, said he
considered the Justice Department's new power to seize
foreign bank accounts"maybe the most startling provision
of the Patriot Act." He said:"It's an awesome power,
and it may even go too far because of the diplomatic
problems it could cause."

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