Putin Says Goldman Sachs Behind Leak Of Panama Papers

Photo by William Banzai7

BLOOMBERG -- President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that information in the Panama Papers implicating people in his inner circle to offshore transactions was accurate, but dismissed the leak -- which he tied to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. -- as part of U.S. efforts to influence Russia’s upcoming elections.

“Odd as it may seem, they aren’t publishing false information on offshores,” Putin said during his annual call-in show Thursday. “They’re not accusing anyone of anything specific. They’re just casting a shadow.”

The documents show at least $2 billion in transactions involved people and companies that had ties to Putin, according to reports published this month by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

The Russian president said Goldman Sachs owns the parent of the German newspaper that received leaked files from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The newspaper, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, is owned by a Munich publishing family and a German media group that has no corporate affiliations to Goldman Sachs, according to a statement from Stefan Hilscher, the managing director of the paper. The U.S. bank declined to comment.

In 2013, Goldman Sachs signed a three-year agreement to advise the Russian government on burnishing the nation’s image overseas and attracting more institutional investors.

Continue reading at Bloomberg...

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UPDATE

Now, less than 24 hours later, the Kremlin has issued an apology and explanation for Putin's statement. Great Leader apparently got some bad information from one of his cronies.

Kremlin Backtracks On Goldman Sachs Statement

INVESTING IN RUSSIA IN 2016

Bloomberg analyst discussion from Thursday.

Comments

[DailyBail]

Spanish Minister Jose Manuel Soria Resigns Over Panama Leaks

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-15/spanish-minister-jose-manuel-soria-resigns-over-panama-leaks

This just happened a few minutes ago.

[DailyBail]

Steve Cohen Has a New Firm That's Allowed to Take Outside Money

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-14/steve-cohen-has-a-new-firm-that-s-allowed-to-take-outside-money

After being busted by the SEC and banned from the industry.

[Cheyenne]

This story is most curious.

Here you have Putin claiming that "Goldman Sachs owns the parent of the German newspaper that received leaked files from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca."

That's about as black and white as it gets. It should be easy for Goldman to just flat-out deny (and, being Goldman, ridicule) Putin's claim as the product of muppet imagination. But instead...

"The U.S. bank declined to comment."

I can think of two reasons Goldman might have taken a pass. EITHER Goldman does own the newspaper, OR Goldman doesn't own the paper but lied to Russia by claiming at one time that it did. The latter possibility is left open by this interesting tidbit from the Bloomberg story:

"In 2013, Goldman Sachs signed a three-year agreement to advise the Russian government on burnishing the nation’s image overseas and attracting more institutional investors."

[S. Gompers]

If true Cheyenne, it looks like according to Putin that Goldman just breached that contract...

[john]

Cheyenne, did you see this? Think Beau Biden or Mikhail Saakashvill

US-born Ukrainian finance minister may buy country's largest telecom company – reports

http://www.rt.com/business/339648-jaresko-ukraine-telecom-company/

Mikheil Saakashvili is back. Having left his native Georgia after voters repudiated his party and his term as president expired, Saakashvili has revived his political fortunes on a much larger playing field — Ukraine. The former Georgian president has taken Ukrainian citizenship and rapidly emerged as one of the country’s most popular political figures. And with good reason: he has bravado; he is a vast storehouse of energy; and he is tempting Ukrainians with an easy solution to poverty and corruption — namely, him.

http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/01/20/the-case-against-saakashvili-ukraine/

[Cheyenne]

"it looks like according to Putin that Goldman just breached that contract..."

Why, that is simply OUTRAGEOUS! Goldman? Engage in sharp dealing?

"a former State Department employee, is reportedly looking to purchase a company that controls 85 percent of Ukraine's telecom market"

Ugh. No, I hadn't seen any of that.

[S. Gompers]

So if in Putin's words this is true could there possibly be legal recourse to follow that would confirm the allegation AND breach of contract? That could get interesting because if there was confirmation of that it might shake up other investors that have money in them as to the trustworthiness of their business ....

[DailyBail]

Goldman's Blankfein Demands Deepest Cost Cuts in Years

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-15/goldman-s-blankfein-said-to-demand-deepest-cost-cuts-in-years

[Cheyenne]

Interesting link there, DB.

"Blankfein’s reliance on junior bankers has helped contain costs. From 2012 through last year, the number of partners and managing directors decreased 2 percent, while the ranks of analysts, associates and vice presidents increased 17 percent, Blankfein said in the February presentation. Even as its workforce grew 11 percent, the company cut $270 million in compensation, the presentation shows."

It would seem that the current depression continues to munch its way upward, spitting out the elite's countless pretenders in the process. I wonder if Blankfein knows that he's expendable himself--that his status, much like that of a toilet scrubber, hinges on how efficiently he carries out instructions? Or does he really believe his own b.s. about creating jobs and doing God's work and all that?

[DailyBail]

Kremlin backtracks on Goldman Sachs accusation

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/15/kremlin-backtracks-on-goldman-sachs-accusation.html

UPDATE

It looks like Putin got bad information from one of his aides.

[DailyBail]

USDA plans to bail out wild blueberries

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/14/usda-plans-to-bail-out-wild-blueberries.html

[DailyBail]

A push to create the next great American marijuana town

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/14/a-push-to-create-the-next-great-american-marijuana-town.html

[DailyBail]

US Consumer Price Index rose 0.1% in March

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/14/us-consumer-price-index-march-2016.html

Deflation is the much greater worry at this point.

[DailyBail]

The current stock market rally is looking "a little extended," Rayomond James Chief Investment Strategist Jeffrey Saut said Thursday. The S&P 500 has rallied about 12 percent since bottoming in February. "I do think we go a little bit higher here, but we're 43 sessions into this buying stampede. It's pretty rare to get a buying stampede to go more than 30 sessions," Saut told CNBC's "Squawk Box."

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/14/stock-rally-is-a-little-extended-jeff-saut.html

[DailyBail]

Russia unveils cost of keeping Lenin on display

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/14/russia-unveils-cost-of-keeping-lenin-on-display.html

[skinflint]

Welp, around here, wild blueberries grow like crazy and I've seen them all along the AT and elsewhere. The pine barrens of New Jersey the list goes on and on. Why anyone would want to pay for them escapes me. Now if I could find some ginseng around here I'd be livin large.

[S. Gompers]

Once the government gets involved Skinflint the blueberries will become endangered.....

[Sagebrush]

I wonder how many corrupt folks are having anxiety attacks about this news.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/16/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-warns-ofeconomic-fallout-if-congress-passes-9-11-bill.html?_r=0

[skinflint]

So here is HSBC still doing stuff that would get us plebes thrown into the slammer. Two tier system. This is a truncated article to be sure and the WSJ had a more in depth article of which one detail, a 19 year old walks into an HSBC branch in Mexico with a million dollars or so in a duffel bag and proclaimed himself to be a shrimp farmer. There's more as well.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/apr/01/hsbc-reform-too-slow-says-report

[Sagebrush]

Wall Street's fraud of the week club.

http://ourfuture.org/20160413/wall-streets-fraud-of-the-week-club

[S. Gompers]

Something else you might be interested in Sagebrush;

http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-saudi-land-purchases-fuel-debate-over-us-water-rights-2016-3

America has hammers to deal with threats. 15 of 19 9-11 terrorists were Saudi, follow the money, this is something no one wants to do.

[S. Gompers]

Something else Saudi related, they may have been planning dumping since January, legislation may be ruse.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-22/u-s-is-hiding-treasury-bond-data-that-s-suddenly-become-crucial

[S. Gompers]

Another interesting read;

http://www.newstatesman.com/global-issues/2011/03/land-queen-world-australia

[Cheyenne]

From Sage's link above (to wit: http://ourfuture.org/20160413/wall-streets-fraud-of-the-week-club)...

"One candidate was paid six-figure sums to give speeches at Goldman Sachs. Another received a Goldman Sachs loan for his Senate campaign and is married to one of its executives."

The writer, of course, is talking about Hillary (who got $675,000 for 3 speeches at Goldman) and Ted Cruz (who got a $1 million loan from Goldman, which HE ILLEGALLY FAILED TO DISCLOSE IN HIS FEDERAL ELECTION FILINGS).

My guess is that the writer left these details out since the article was about Wall Street fraud and he didn't want to distract readers with election-related tidbits. And the piece does make strong cases against both GS and Wells Fargo for fraud.

Interestingly, though, both cases for fraud are grounded in nondisclosure of material information. So aside from taking dirty money, Hillary and Lyin' Ted are also guilty of replicating the very behavior by Goldman that makes its money dirty (read: stolen) in the first place. Hillary is hiding the quid pro quo for the $675,000 by concealing the speech transcripts. Ted got caught lying--by material nondisclosure of the $1MM loan--on his election forms.

Given that, what do you think the odds are that either Hillary or Ted will see to it that Wall Street is prosecuted for ANY future crimes? Exactly, zero.

Of course, the mainstream media and really big alternative media (is there a difference at this point?) don't cover ANY of this.

[S. Gompers]

No chance in hell Cheyenne.

[Sagebrush]

("To hear Peterson Institute’s Truman tell it, more clarity by central banks is long overdue -- particularly when it comes to the U.S. Treasury.")

I won't count on this happening during my lifetime.

[Sagebrush]

("what do you think the odds are that either Hillary or Ted will see to it that Wall Street is prosecuted for ANY future crimes?")

Gompers and Cheyene, count me in on that zero no chance in hell. Wall Street owns them both.

[DailyBail]

SAGE

Welcome back! Fraud, did someone say something about fraud. Here's that WSJ piece you mentioned on HSBC and the shrimp farmer.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/hsbc-struggles-to-bring-money-laundering-vigilance-up-to-snuff-1459279408

Iranian Miniskirts, Bags of Cash Raise Doubts Over Controls at HSBC

[DailyBail]

Something else Saudi related, they may have been planning dumping since January, legislation may be ruse.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-22/u-s-is-hiding-treasury-bond-data-that-s-suddenly-become-crucial

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Great find Gomp, I had not seen this detail before.

[S. Gompers]

Thanks DB, I do try to stay abreast of who owns what. Following the money can get tricky, but it is easier to follow the real wealth, the hard assets. The loss of the real wealth, i.e. natural resources, land, etc., under foreign control leads to loss of sovreignity...

And yes, it is good to see Sagebrush.

[Sagebrush]

It's great to see DB, Gompers, Cheyene and the rest of the Dailybail crew back riding herd on the Wall Street, government and other criminal outlaws who are destroying our nation.