Commentary
Richard Lawless
Unfortunately, my company along with tens of thousands of other individuals and corporations was caught off-guard by Puerto Rico’s financial collapse. To make sure that it doesn’t happen to us again, my company launched an investigation into the causes of this tragedy so we wouldn’t become a victim a second time, somewhere else.
Part of the findings uncovered information indicating the Puerto Rico Government theft of hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds each year. I reported this to the San Juan FBI office and after many months and little cooperation, they determined the activities did not meet criminal standards and would better be handled as a personal civil case.
Shortly after that I received a call from a CIA Agent that said they have been tracking the massive wire transfers out of Puerto Rico for almost a decade. The Agent then went on to say that they have notified the FBI repeatedly and the FBI failed to act on it. The agent also said that in tape recorded phone conversations it was clear that the San Juan FBI and U.S. District Attorney Offices were participating in this massive theft and their family members were receiving payoffs; Further explaining the lack of prosecution for so many years. A short time after that, British Intelligence suggested they were aware of much of same.
Two newspaper editors were able to confirm the tip from the CIA and British Intelligence.
On April 6, 2016, the Caribbean News Now Agency printed the article “Personal conflicts obstruct FBI investigation into Puerto Rico fraud” and the New York Observer printed a similar article on 6 27-16. As of today, it is my understanding that the money continues to flow out of Puerto Rico and find its way back to critical DOJ employees.
Reporting this to the San Juan FBI and U.S. Attorney would be silly, since they were the DOJ employees allegedly accepting the payoffs. I forwarded this information to the Washington Headquarters of the FBI hoping they would do something.
After not hearing anything for almost a year, I filed a Freedom of Information Request. I received the results today. The Washington FBI referred my complaint back to the San Juan FBI so they could investigate themselves!
As of today, it is my understanding that the money continues to flow out of Puerto Rico and find its way back to critical DOJ employees.
Puerto Rico Bond Fraud that set a new standard for Congressional Corruption? 60 Sec Commercial Summarizing some of the crimes
Press Conference recapping testimony to the SEC/FBI and Congressional Oversight Committee – It is mind bending
Richard Lawless is a former senior banker who has specialized in evaluating and granting debt for over 25 years. He has a Master’s Degree in Finance from the University of San Diego and Bachelor’s Degree from Pepperdine University. He sits on several Corporate Boards and actively writes for several finance publications. The opinions expressed in the preceding commetary are solely his and do not represent those of The Puerto Rico Monitor.
No comments:
Post a Comment