They should rename it Bank of A-holes!!!
San Francisco resident Matthew Shinnick tried to sell a pair of mountain bikes on Craigslist late last year. He attracted a buyer, received a check in the mail — and ended up handcuffed by police in a downtown Bank of America branch and jailed for almost 12 hours.
BofA calls the bizarre episode “an unfortunate series of events.”
Shinnick… stopped by a BofA branch near Union Square in early January. He said he asked a teller if sufficient funds existed in the BofA business account to cover the check.
“She said it was a valid account and that there were funds to cover it,” Shinnick recalled. “I said, ‘Great,’ and asked to cash the check.”
“A few minutes later, four SFPD officers came into the bank. They didn’t say a thing. They just kicked my legs apart and handcuffed me behind my back.”
In July, a San Francisco Superior Court judge ruled that Shinnick was innocent by “findings of fact” — a decision that essentially erases all record of the case.
But by this time, Shinnick said, he’d spent about $14,000 clearing his name. He wanted that money back and he felt BofA should pay it.
BofA felt otherwise. Earlier this month, a bank vice president, William Minnes, wrote to Shinnick’s lawyer to say that “Bank of America can certainly understand that your client is angry at the bank.”
However, he said, BofA has no legal liability in the case because of [a] 2004 Supreme Court ruling. Minnes warned that “litigation would not prove financially beneficial.”
Consumer talk show maven Clark Howard got interested in the case and is urging people to protest Bank of America’s indifference to Shinnick’s plight by taking their money out of BOA. “All he [Shinnick] and Clark asked was that BOA cover Matthew’s legal fees but BOA has refused…. Please remove any money you have with BOA and e-mail us the amount you’ve withdrawn.” He’s even got a “BOA Money Loss Meter” on his site you can check out. Gotta love Clark!
How many crooks do you know that will admit wrongdoing? 0 to none. Of course the guy is going to claim he didn’t know anything, he’s not dumb! He either let greed get the better of him, or he was in on the scam. None of us were there to see what the police did or did not do, and a person does NOT have to be read his/her rights “at the scene,” it’s done prior to interrogation (criminal justice classes are very informative…) It’s so very easy to hear just one side of the story…the suspect who claims to be a victim. If the account was “flagged” and the owner said they didn’t authorize the charge…this is very clear. However, the news/media is very good at making things sound worse than they are…”Innocent man jailed for simply trying to verify check.” How about, “Suspect caught attempting to cash a fraudulent check?” This sounds more accurate.
What we have here is a common problem in the U.S. People jumping to conclusions without all the information.
Yes the man is an idiot. He was either 1) in on a scam, or 2) out of touch with reality. From what I’ve read most of the people who’ve posted have some intelligence and would have not tried to cash a check for 2k when the item was worth only 600.
I had an account with BoA. The made a “clerical error” with my account and I ended up with nearly $300 in bounced check FEES. It took several months to clear things up with the bank. All they told me was it was an unfortunate situation but I still had to pay the fees. I was 18 and my only source of income was from the Army Reserves. I didn’t bother to try and fight it ( 18y/o agains mega-corp… yeah right). I just paid my fees then closed the account.
As to who’s at fault. Everyone EXCEPT the SFPD. They made an arrest on available information. As France said, “…a person does NOT have to be read his/her rights “at the scene,” it’s done prior to interrogation …”
As I said before, there is not enough information in the article to really know what happend. It’s just one side of the situation. And to quote a favorite TV show of mine, “Truth is a three edged sword.” There’s your side, their side, and what really happend.
libertyvital: If the bank answered the questions about the account correctly, then why would they also assume that the guy was a crook? Should they treat everyone that wants to cash a check instead of depositing this way?
If BOA did nothing wrong, why did they apologize?
Why couldn’t the SFPD ask Matthew for his side of the story at the bank?
There’s plenty of blame to go around here. The guy was getting scammed and probably didn’t know it. He did try to rip the guy off by trying to cash the over payment (questionable ethics). The bank initially did a great job calling the SFPD. The cops did a marginal job. The bank manager and I imagine the Frisco D.A. should have seen that charges should not have been filed against this guy. It seems there was a rush to charge him (BOA pressure?). On face value the guy gets a check for the right amount and imo does the right thing and goes to the other persons bank to cash it. He still gets busted even though he’s done nothing wrong, passing fraudulent checks means you personally create the fraudulent check he didn’t do this he was a victim of fraud not a passer of fraud.
1) Shinnick lacks a little in character
2) SFPD and SFDA your typical sloppy gov’t workers. Why let the facts get in the way of another good bust in the papers.
3) BOA did a good job (still don’t like them)
4) BOA manager probably sucking up to his boss completely screwed up. I’d sue him personally.
5) Lawyers suck
6) Canadian bike thief sucks and needs to do time (what address was shinnick sending these to bikes?)
As for the actions of the cops, welcome to the Nazi Police State. Concerning the check and the bank. All the above actions make it appear that something in the US money system is real. Who said any check is real? Who said the money is real? It’s all an assumption
My son’s business gets checks all the time – For large ones, he goes to the bank they are written on to cash the check because his account at Bank of America wants to hold the checks for seven days before they clear. He has since closed his account there (as I have) and moved to another bank.
Several times he has presented checks to cash where there is not sufficient funds to pay the check. Should he go to jail for this? How about a little customer service? Bank of America is the only bank account I have had where they do not take the time to get to know you.
I think you guys are forgetting that if a bank employee tells you its a good check and calls the cops on you, i think that is a little stupid. Would you like it if you walked into the Bank and they arested you because you were told you had a good check? I wouldnt. I am going to close my account and withdraw my money from those crooks
This guy needs to get a lawyer and bring suit against BofA. There’s a lot of posts of what the guy was thinking, how the bank should be not held liable for reporting a crime, etc etc etc…however, 4 basic facts (and just facts):
1. Mr. Shinnick received a bad check.
2. Mr. Shinnick went to the bank (or branch of) that holds the account of the check.
3. Mr. Shinnick asked the bank if the check was good. The bank said yes.
4. Mr. Shinnick asks for the check to be cashed, the bank calls the cops, and he is arrested.
Mr. Shinnick should get a lawyer and sue BofA for a multi-million dollar amount. Yes, the Supreme Court ruled immunity for persons reporting a crime. But just like the “corporate veil”, the immunity can be pierced if they acted improperly. And I believe fact #3 is it. The bank LIED about the status of the check. If they stated the check was bad, Shinnick would not have attempted to cash it. By LYING about the status of the check, the bank unwittingly perpetuated the “crime”. Mr. Shinnick had no way of knowing the check was good until he asked the bank. When the bank LIED and told him it was good, he acted in good faith to cash the check.
When BofA settles, it will, no doubt, be much more than 14K…..
If I read the second blue paragraph correctly, Shinnick was quoted as saying that, “he asked a teller if sufficient funds existed in the BofA business account to cover the check.” He also goes on to say that the teller, “said it was a valid account and that there were funds to cover it.” So how and why does he claim to have been set up? The account WAS valid and DID have funds, but because of lost or stolen checks, the account holder “flagged” the account for possible fraud…and whoa and behold, along comes poor (sarcasm) Shinnick trying to cash a check for a higher amount than expect…
Those of you who have been victims of fraud, would you like the police to warn the thief that they’re about to catch him so that he can get away? Did he expect the teller to tell him this? Sorry, but you you don’t warn a robber that you are about to catch him, otherwise he’ll run.
The teller was not at fault for spotting a possible fraud suspect…SFPD was not at fault for responding to a report of a fraud in progress. If anything, maybe the manager could have withdrawn the charges after finding out that Shinnick was “innocent.” There is no way the teller could have known that Shinnick was not the person who stole the checks. You don’t go up to a car thief and say, “excuse me, are you stealing this car? Cause if you are, I just need to let you know that it’s mine and I’m going to call the police.”
Not The Guys Fault :
I have had a very similar situation. Let me explain what happened. I was a student and I was renting an apartment. I had everything in place the lease and all and it so happened I landed an internship far from where I was studying, since I cant break the lease I had to sub lease the apartment. I put out an Ad on craigslist and on roommates.com and some other websites for renting out my apartment. I get lots of mail from a bunch of people asking questions about the place. One of them was from a girl in the UK and she said she was going to school where I was and wanted to rent the apartment for a year. I still have emails from her where we finally confirmed the amount she had to send the lease papers and the duration of the lease. She sent me three money orders , each valued at USD 910 … And these were the USPS money orders . She said she sent the huge amount to cover the deposit (875 deposit + 875 rent) and the second months rent. Everything seemed fine till now. Then the girl mails me and tells me she had an accident and wont be able to make it and if i could refund atleast part of her money. I smell something fishy so i go the post office to verify the money orders and tadaaaa… they are very good fakes. If i would have deposited these money orders in a bank , would I be doing something wrong ?? considering I have no idea about them being fakes or real ones. And trust me I have a masters in computer engineering… I work as a systems analyst…you dont get someone more tech/net saavy than me … and I almost fell for it…. now who’s to blame for it ? I dint have monetary greed just trying to live a normal life bro..
I recently went into the BofA branch on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California to open a savings account and found the experience to be “pushy” in their tactics to upsell me to other services that I did not necessarily need. In addition, routine questions about promotions and discounts were not answered. Finally, at the end when I complained about my experience to the branch manager, Christina Nguyen, fell on deaf ears. I walked away confused that retail branch manager would treat me this way when I was going to deposit $15,000 for a new savings account. I found this manager arrogant and out of touch with the idea of servicing a customer.
Upon two more incidents within one month of opening my account, I decided to move my account to another bank as I felt that I wanted a banking relationship versus what this branch was offering me.
It could just be me, but I have come to believe that the service at a bank branch really comes down to the manager.
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About fraudulent travelers cheques or personal checks coming from craigslist contacts, a dude by the name of Fred Martins contacted me via email and told me he would pay me a generous fee for handling a couple of financial transactions for him. Via UPS today, I received an envelope containing $3000 in “Bank of America/American Express” travelers cheques. Fred (or the sender “John Milo”) has requested that I cash the travelers cheques, take a percentage for myself, and then wire the remaining funds to two separate accounts in Haiti. If the checks are authentic, is there any cause for concern? Is this part of some kind of Internet/craigslist scam? Please email me at either bill@publishersmedia.com or WBMartens@aol.com to let me know. I’m concerned about going to Bank of America, especially after what I just read at the top of your web page.
Bank of America should have restrained the customer with their own security guard for the purpose of finding out where he got the check, then brought the police in with the assumption that the check was recieved under fraudulent circumstances. Innocent until proven guilty is the process of law. Therefore the fact that they didnt take any measure to prevent a missunderstanding holds them to some level of liability in the acctions taken against this man. The police were liable as well in the fact that they took no measure to gather information from the accused, and robbed him of his first ammendment right to freedom of speech. Last time i checked, Miranda read, you have the right to remain silent, not you better remain silent. So truth be told, both BOA, and the SFPD are equally liable of poor judgement, and misshandling of an incident that might have been solved by a few questions, and a couple of phone calls.
In my industry, it’s known as Bank of scAm-erica.
My husband and I noticed fraudulent charges on our account on 4/2/07 made by Pacific Web Works for $49.90. We called the bank to dispute the charge and it was credited to our account on 4/3/07. Then on 5/2/07 we received a re-bill for the charge. We had already called Pacific Web Works on 3 separate occasions between 4/2 and 5/15 trying to get them to reverse the charges; first they gave us the run around, then they claimed we called one day too late. We spoke to the Pacific Web Works billing department who told us they don’t give refunds. I told them this was a fraudulent charge and they told me to file a police report because I wasn’t getting my money back.
We again contacted the claims department of the bank and we were sent a letter stating that this was a valid charge and that we would not be receiving the authorized credit. We then sent in 2 more disputes to reopen the claim because they did not do much to validate this as a legitimate charge (they only confirmed our address and name). In addition, Bank of America charged us over approximately $3,000 in non-sufficient fund fees associated with the 2 debits that went in and out of our account due to this transaction not being handled properly. On 5/22 we faxed a police report / Identify Theft Complaint Form to Pacific Web Works and the bank.
I am currently looking for other dissatisfied customers so we can start a class action suite against the bank and the way they “stael money” from their customers and claim “no-fault”.
I contacted the Federal Trade Commission and they entered the information I provided into their shared law enforcement data base. They share this data base with Federal, State and Local law enforcement agencies. Information from consumers like us helps Federal, State and Local authorities investigate possible illegal practices and enforce our laws.
I wish all of you would also file complaints – this will open an investigation into their business practices. Please visit the FTC’s web page, http://www.ftc.gov, to complain online. Maybe the bank will wake-up and realize that without our money, they wouldn’t exist.
In all the subsequent posts, no one has answered the question posed in #51: WHAT CAN YOU DO TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT ARRESTED FOR BEING UNKOWNINGLY GIVEN A BAD CHECK?
The $2000 check for $600 item obviously is a red flag. But, thsi could jsut as easily happen for the exact amount of the item. So, what can you do??? If the answer is “nothing,” that’s pretty scary.
is there a law to where if you are with a bank for a year or more, the bank is no longer to charge the customers any fees? someone had told my husband that. i had an incident where i have a checking acct. with boa and a savings account along with my minor son. we deposited a money order through the ATM that was made out to him and the bank deposited. but when he wanted to deposit his payroll check also through the ATM, the bank accepted it and cleared but then took it back out of the checking acct. mailed it back to me, saying he is not a primary endorser on the acct. even though he has a savings account that is connected to mine. now, thinking we had money in the account, we made several transactions…not big ones. but those transactions were sent back with overdraft fees….the transactions came back through, then the bank paid them with again more overdraft fees. besides all this, it them more than a week to get the check back…..now….i am about $800+ in the hole. none of my bills are getting paid…everything is getting sent back with more fees. i am now behind on my truck payment, phone bill and have negative in the account. i’ve decided to cancel my direct deposit with BOA and try to handle all my of bill issues myself. i ‘ve told them over and over that they accepted the money order and a payroll check once before in my son’s name and why this time their not…..i haven’t got a response. is it possible to get another bank account locally while i have this big negative with BOA? will they let me close with a negative balance or should i just leave it open and slowly make deposits to clear it to $0? any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
steph
He can sue them and should.
BANK OF AMERICA WILL BLEED YOUR ACCOUNT DRY. RUN AWAY!!!
#73–
I did the same thing but my bank is local–City National Bank. I too got $2,000.00 in AAA Travelers Checks and was asked to do the same thing. I did not get this from any list but a lady (or so I thought and might still be a lady–who knows) told me about a part time job doing some customer service. So when I got the first set of checks I took my percentage out and did as the letter told me to do which was send it moneygram back to them. So I thought that maybe they have me as a contact on a website somewhere and that is the commision that I was being paid for–not unusual. The bank didn’t say a think when I took the Traveler’s checks in to depost my percentage and cash the rest of them–so I assumed they were fine–I have been with this bank for like 6+ years–so no red flags popped up. I also have never had over 300.00 in my account –ever–it’s just a personal acocunt. Then I get a second set of checks for $7,500.00—that was when the red flag went off–so I went to the bank and had to ask them if they were fake—I had to ask them–and two of them had to come over and see and the one who did the transactions before didn’t even recognize they were fake. The Bank Manager came over and gave me a riot act about knowing these were fake and telling me not to do this again and she also told me NOT to go to the police. I went to the police a couple of days later—-and now they are investigating it all and they say that it is the Bank’s problem and they are just trying to cover their behind and they KNEW they made a mistake because I was told NOT to go to the police. Now the bank calls me and tells me that I can let it go and repary them the $1,800.00 and that it will be on MY record for 5 years. What record is that and if they did the wrong thing by cashing those checks why am I liable for their mistake. I am waiting on the Police to return my call and will go from there. We are pulling everything out of that bank right now. If you have information on how to proceed with this please contact me via e-mail at: ladyguinevere45@hotmail.com
Debbie
On Friday, June 20, 2008, I walked into the Parkland Branch BOA to make several deposits, cash a check and get my payroll out. I was asked to leave when I asked if the bank could verify funds on the check.
We hope the maverick Hockey mom Sarah Palin could eliminate the TORTURE `by identity thieves. We need a reformer Palin for the action.
In early August, 2007, Bank of America informed us forged checks for $8,000 as my wife wrote payable to my son Paul Sone. The thief printed it. We wanted a copy of it, but Bank failed to do so.
We discovered another forged check for $1,250. Bank of America and Commerce bank honored it without verifying the signatures as if I made out payable to my son. We identified the forgery. A large amount was stolen from our legitimate account too. Now the bank demands us to pay more than $40,000 for the stolen accounts although their negligence allowed the thieves free lunch.
Last month, the president of the Bank of America, Phoenix, Arizona got a default judgment over $14,000 against my son Paul Sone, following traverse hearings at Nassau County District Court, New York.
However, the lawsuit was a fraud. He never lived in Phoenix. Someone opened an account in 2002 at the bank. The default judgment was for a delinquent debt on the account. He never received the bank statements and the summons and complaint. The bank gave to court Defendant’s false address at 471 N. Broadway, Jericho, New York
Then, Michael A. Cammon, agent of BA, Brea, Ca.
falsely stated in the affidavit that the charges were correct in the lawsuit.
Strangely the bank filed the lawsuit as Bank of America, Brea, Ca. But the bank in Phoenix, Arizona has the judgment.
Questionably the Bank’s addresses Jumped to California from Arizona.
The contradicting false addresses and information obviously indicate the false lawsuit based upon an identity theft under the lax bank managers.
On September 3, we asked the bank to send us all the evidentiary documents on the account since 2002. It failed to do so.
We never opened the account at Capital One Bank. Now it demands us over $18,000 to pay for the stolen account which has nothing to do with us.
The banks threaten lawsuit against innocent us.
Citibank, Chase, American Express promptly cleared the frauds at the initial reports. But Capital one, commerce Bank and Astoria Bank in chaos of identity thieves’ mongering.
Five more like these costly fraudulent cases are pending against us at the Nassau county District Court.
We have to go through the painful costly court proceedings.
It seems that the banks and thieves target the elderly and minority victims.
All of Our frauds reported to FBI, Fed. Trade commission, DA, police, etc. No help is coming from them
The court is wasting time and tax payers’ money for these
fraudulent lawsuits by the ID thieves which even elementary educated kids could probe to be false.
The legal system is like “lipsticks on pig” if it is not an idiots’ comedy in an open land.
We need a stronger law to protect the innocent victims against ID thieves.
Who can reshape this ominous corrupt banking system in this society?
Reformer Sarah Palin could do it as a maverick. Do it now. Multitude of innocent victims yarning for Hockey mom, palin’s action to conquer the thieves.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Chae S. Sone, Kyung Kim, Paul M. Sone
Hicksville, New York 11801
Bank of America send to us Fraud affidavits again to repeat the same investigation if they already have done>>
Then, the fruad investigation office in Phoenix asked to to file “Identity teft victim request for inforamtion.” The bank adminstration is in chaos, idiots sitting there.
BOA VICE PRESIDENT ANSWERED OUR COMPLAINT ABOUT A FAKE ACCOUNT AND THE FAKE DEBST. HE COUILD NOT FIND THE ORIGNIGAL APPLICATION FORM FOR THE OPENING AND DID NOT SEND THE EVIDENCE TO ME.
THEN HE ENCLOSED THE COPIES OF FOUR FORGED CHECKS SIGNED BY ME. ASKED ME TO PAY
THE DEBTS. I DID NOT PRINT THE CHECKBOOK. ANY WAY ALL THE SIGNAATURES SUPPOSEDLY SIGNED BY ME DIFFERENT. I WROTE TO THE BANKER UNMLESS THE GUY VISAULLY IMPAIRED, HOW HE COULD HONOR THE FORGED CHECKS WITH DIFFERENT SIGNATURES FOR THE SAME PERSON? IT SEEMS TO APPEAR TO BE A MONEY LALUDERING SCHEME JUST PASSING ANY CHECKS. IS THE BANK RULED BY TERRORISTS?
HOW THE BANK PRESIDENT WOULD REPLY ON THE FORGED CHECKS? WE HAVE TO WAIT TO SEE IT.
THERE SHOULD BE A COSNUMER LAW TO CHARGE THE BANK FOR THE EXPENSES IN LREATION WITH THE BANK FRAUDS. $1,000 AT LEAST FOR EACH LETTER A CUSTOMER WRITES TO THE BANK IN RELATION WITH THE BANK’S MISTAKE. ANYWAY PRESIDENT OBAMA WILL STIMULATE THE BANKS.
BOAc
This is no surprize to me, they are an ugly company who think your money is theirs to steal. They should be put out of business.
I feel a class action lawsuit coming on, so so many people utterly upset with them. hundreds of thousands of upset ex customers waiting for revenge of some kind for the mistreatment they received. Lord I’m glad I’m not bofa.
The victim is just that… a victim. Lets be logical here, I would have done the same thing. Instead of depositing the check into my personal account, I would have went to cash it in the account on the check. He asked the accurate.. logical questions to the teller…Is this account valid and are their sufficient funds? She lied and said yes. That is entrapment! She could have at least probed the situation further to determine if he was trying to scam the bank or being scammed himself. The bank AND police department is responsible in my opinion.
in addition…when selling merchandise online, even a money order is no longer safe. An old roommate of mine was a BofA customer and she received a money order from someone in a similiar situation. She deposited it into her personal account and a few business days later her account was flagged and the funds were deducted due to “counterfeit money order”. Soooo with that being said I would have tried my luck at his bank…hoping that if the check was invalid the teller would inform me and I would not have to go through the heartache of being scammed. I guess in this case BofA scammed him….right along with the police department and the idiot Canadian who set him up!
The way I see it, yes, BOA did they’re job, however, if the account was truly valid, then there is no basis for calling the police.
False Arrest against the police department, however I also know that the state attorney general should file charges against the branch manager for filing a false police report, and there is a such thing as defamation of character, which he could persue, which means that BOA caused the defamation, or lied to the police, and caused him to lose money, and could have caused him irrepairable harm due to the arrest while it was going through the criminal legal system.
BOA is responsible for that. He did nothing wrong. BOA should be required to reimburse him half of his legal fees. Unless there was another criminal issue, that was not mentioned in the article.
In the mid to late 90s I was traveling the country designing components for manufactured housing, constantly on the move between the east coast and the Rocky Mountain states, and all points in between. I opened a BofA account so my wife could have access to the cash for bills and so on.
Business was great and the account balance grew into the largest I’d ever maintained on such a long time scale. Then the wife decided she wanted a divorce.
HER name was not on the account. I had simply given her an ATM card to withdraw the cash she needed. She(we) had a separate account at another local bank.
She went to the local BofA branch and told the branch manager that she knew I was planning to write lots of NSF checks and could they please give her all the cash and close the account.
They did.
My business account. I was almost 2000 miles from home with about a hundred bucks in my pocket. I had to borrow money just to get home.
When I asked the branch manager about it, she said there was nothing I could do about it because they had acted on the wishes of my wife, THOUGH HER NAME WAS NOT ON THE ACCOUNT.
The account was closed already, so I couldn’t even get that satisfaction. The only tool I can fight back with now is this:
I WILL NOT ACCEPT CHECKS DRAWN ON BofA ACCOUNTS.
) They’re exotic and faraway places known to tourists for coral reefs and sandy beaches.
But to the business world they’re known as tax havens, with strict bank secrecy and privacy laws, where U.S. companies can pay fewer taxes and help wealthy customers avoid taxes, too. From the Caribbean and Europe – to Panama. CBS News Investigative Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports.
And guess who’s turned up in a new government report about tax havens?
Eleven giant recipients of your bailout tax dollars – American Express, AIG, Bank of America, Citigroup, General Motors, GMAC, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo. Together they’ve collected more than $227 billion.
Even as they benefit from tax money, they operate hundreds of subsidiaries in places widely known for helping people evade taxes.
Although proponents say most business in tax havens is perfectly legal and legitimate, it’s estimated that tax havens cost U.S. taxpayers $100 billion a year in lost revenue.
The stakes are so high that one tax haven insider was put under witness protection after he exposed hundreds of tax dodgers, and testified to Congress about his job.
One favorite among the bailout companies is the Cayman Islands. There’s no income tax, no corporate tax and no capital gains tax.
Goldman Sachs has 15 subsidiaries there. Bank of America: 59. Citigroup: 90.
But Morgan Stanley beats them all with at least 158 subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands – seven times the number of hotels.
When asked about how hard it is for the U.S. government to “get at” what is going on in some of these tax havens, Dean Zerbe, a former congressional tax investigator, said “it’s incredibly hard.”
Zerbe believes the Treasury Department should demand that bailed-out banks cough up details of their offshore interests.
“Here we are sending taxpayers’ monies to you. Tell us, banks, what you’re doing to ensure that you are not helping folks avoid taxes coming the other way,” Zerbe said.
None of the bailout companies we contacted would talk about their subsidiaries in tax havens, except insurance giant AIG which told us their operations do not “exist solely for tax benefit.”
So the next time you’re reminded the U.S. economy is in shambles, remember – there are places where business is still booming.
Places where some bailed out companies are getting your tax dollars, and may be helping others pay less.
# 1 Mr. H. Fusion said, on September 21st, 2006 at 7:58 pm
“I would think he recourse is not against the Bank. They only did what they should have done. The wrong was done by Police who arrested him without cause.
Shinnick said he was never read his rights. He said he was instructed by one of the cops to keep his mouth shut and not say anything. Shinnick said he remained handcuffed in the bank lobby for about 45 minutes while the police spoke with BofA workers.
That there should be grounds for wrongful arrest”
And the Nazi’s were “just following orders”. Bank of America is a thief and a menace to all decent people in this society.