California: Citibank Stole $14 Million from its Customers
You know Citibank.196 yrs old,operates in 100 countries.
- 2005 Sales $83,642,000,000
- 2005 Net Income $24,589,000,000
- 2006 Employees 300,000
- 2005 Year End Assets $1.50 trillion US Dollars
Key quotes:
“The company knowingly stole from its customers, mostly poor people and the recently deceased, when it designed and implemented the sweeps,” Brown said. “When a whistleblower uncovered the scam and brought it to his superiors, they buried the information and continued the illegal practice.”
In July of 2001, a Citibank employee uncovered the practice and brought it to the attention of his superiors. The employee was later fired for discussing the credit sweeps with an internal audit team.
In the words of a Citibank executive, “Stealing from our customers is a business decision, not a legal decision.” The same executive later said that the sweep program could not be stopped because it would reduce the executive bonus pool, Brown charged.
In other words,they stole from the people who could not afford to complain,much like our kleptocracy.What difference is there,pray tell,between these fellows and the kleptomaniacs we have running our parastatals and ministries?Opportunity.That's it.Deplorable,but oddly comforting.
The moral of the story?One,underneath our skin,we're all the same.Two,paraphrasing the Bible,those that have little,even that shall be taken away and added unto he that has much.And three, mattress bankers may be on to something;at least if you're poor:)
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