The recent death of former Chilean President and strongman General Pinochet, and the subsequent scramble to find the money he stashed around the world is yet one more illustration of the hypocrisy of major world banks, and the completely amoral behavior in which they regularly engage.
While dictators are in power banks are thrilled to take their deposits. After all, from a technical legal standpoint, what can be cleaner than funds deposited by someone who enjoys sovereign immunity.
Of course, one has to overlook the uncomfortable facts that the person in question may have seized power, committed murder, overthrow the Constitution, and in the case of someone like Idi Amin even literally cannibalize his own people. But that doesn't matter to a bank. They get to check off the box that says they did their due diligence knowing full well that the day will come when the right to these funds will be challenged.
NOW COMES THE GOOD PART!
As soon as any challenge is made, the bank or banks in question can freeze the funds, stop paying interest on the deposit, while continuing to make money on the frozen funds during the interminable years it will take for the proper ownership of the funds to be determined. The banks know this. The banks plan for this.
But the Patriot Act changed all that... You will hear that refrain over and over again, every time the bank wants to hold on to your funds for a bit longer, or leave digital array huge incoming wire in its suspense account for another weekend. But it doesn't stop major criminals.
In the case of criminals who are dictators, they have the appearance of rights because they are the de facto, and in some cases even the de jure chiefs of state of sovereign nations.
In a different way, the same thing occurs with major crime cartels and terrorist organizations; everyone of them has impeccable documentation, including references in business and professions, and probably from the local cardinal archbishop as well. Their funds do not get held in suspense accounts or otherwise delayed, they are considered important private clients.
The truth about the Patriot Act is that it has given major banks one more excuse to miss-treat their clients, to gouge their clients, and to make extra money on their clients, while blaming it all on the United States government.
