The mountain of damning information acquired by WikiLeaks just keeps growing -- as do attacks on Assange.
By Lauren Kelley, AlterNet on January 17, 2011
The mountain of damning information acquired by WikiLeaks just keeps growing, this time thanks to former Swiss banker Rudolf Elmer, who has reportedly fed the whistle-blower site information that could uncover "massive, unmitigated tax evasion " by powerful individuals and corporations around the globe.
Elmer handed over two optical discs worth of data, said to contain Swiss bank accounts linked to thousands of individuals, including some 40 politicians and "pillars of society" from the U.S., Asia and Europe. Speaking at a press conference outside the Frontline Club, where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is under house arrest, Elmer called WikiLeaks "my only hope to get society to know what's going on" and said "it is damaging our society in the way that money is moved."
After leaving a Cayman Islands outpost of the Swiss bank Julius Baer in 2004, Elmer alleged that many of the bank's top clients engaged in tax fraud with the full cooperation of Julius Baer leaders, according to Raw Story. Elmer, who went on to found the Swiss Whistleblower website, has fed significant information to WikiLeaks once before, in 2007. He faced a court hearing over that release just last Tuesday.
Assange said he plans to release the information in "a matter of weeks," as soon as it's been verified.
The news comes as Assange faces allegations of sexual misconduct and attempts to extradite him from the UK to Sweden. Meanwhile, the U.S. government is continuing its efforts to smear Assange and punish everyone involved with his website. Most notably, Bradley Manning, the 22-year-old U.S. soldier behind a massive leak of classified government documents, is being tortured by being kept in solitary confinement in a Virginia prison.
Assange himself has received numerous thinly-veiled (and not so thinly-veiled) death threats from people all over the world, including individuals associated with the governments of the U.S. and other countries. A website called "People OK With Murdering Assange" compiles the most egregious statements from individuals -- including politicians and prominent media personalities -- who have called for him to be killed.
The Feds have convinced a number of major companies, including PayPal, MasterCard, Visa and Amazon, to stop doing business with Assange's site.
Even the newly crowned Miss America got some jabs in at WikiLeaks' expense, saying during the question portion of Saturday's pageant, "You know when it came to that situation, it was actually based on espionage, and when it comes to the security of our nation, we have to focus on security first and then people's right to know. It's important that everybody who's in our borders is safe and so we can't let things like that happen, and they must be handled properly." That answer may have won Teresa Scanlan the crown, but it is of course inaccurate, since no one has ever been successfully prosecuted under the Espionage Act.
Showing posts with label Rudolf Elmer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rudolf Elmer. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
WikiLeaks: Banking secrets of rich leaked
WikiLeaks: Banking secrets of rich leaked
Monday Jan 17, 2011
The overseas bank account details of 2000 "high-net worth" individuals and corporations - detailing widespread possible tax evasion - will be handed to WikiLeaks tomorrow.
The organisation is receiving the details from the most important and boldest whistleblower in Swiss banking history, Rudolf Elmer, two days before he goes on trial in his native Switzerland.
British and American individuals and companies are among those whose details are on CDs to be presented to WikiLeaks in London.
They include about 40 politicians, Elmer says.
Elmer, who after his press conference will return to Switzerland from exile in Mauritius to face trial, is a former chief operating officer in the Cayman Islands for the Julius Baer bank, which accuses him of stealing the information.
He is also - at a time when the activities of banks are a matter of public concern - one of a small band of employees and executives seeking to blow the whistle on what they see as unprofessional, immoral and even potentially criminal activity by powerful international financial institutions.
Switzerland is a fortress of banking and financial services, but is famously secretive and expert in concealing wealth from all over the world for tax evasion and other extra-legal purposes.
Elmer says he is revealing the information " to educate society".
He says his list includes "high-net worth individuals, multinational conglomerates and financial institutions - hedge funds".
They are said to be "using secrecy as a screen to hide behind in order to avoid paying tax".
They come from the US, Britain, Germany, Austria and Asia.
Clients include "business people, politicians, people who have made their living in the arts and multinational conglomerates - from both sides of the Atlantic".
Elmer says: "Well-known pillars of society will hold investment portfolios and may include houses, trading companies, artwork, yachts, jewellery, horses, and so on.
"What I am objecting to is not one particular bank, but a system of structures," he said.
"I have worked for major banks other than Julius Baer, and the one thing on which I am absolutely clear is that the banks know, and the big boys know, that money is being secreted away for tax-evasion purposes, and other things such as money-laundering."
Elmer was held in custody for 30 days in 2005, and is charged with breaking Swiss bank secrecy laws, forging documents and sending threatening messages to two Baer officials.
Elmer says: "I agree with privacy in banking for the person in the street, and legitimate activity, but in these instances privacy is being abused so that big people can get big banking organisations to service them. The normal, hard-working taxpayer is being abused also."
The names on the CDs will not be made public, just as a list of 15 clients that Elmer gave WikiLeaks in 2008 has remained undisclosed.
Monday Jan 17, 2011
The overseas bank account details of 2000 "high-net worth" individuals and corporations - detailing widespread possible tax evasion - will be handed to WikiLeaks tomorrow.
The organisation is receiving the details from the most important and boldest whistleblower in Swiss banking history, Rudolf Elmer, two days before he goes on trial in his native Switzerland.
British and American individuals and companies are among those whose details are on CDs to be presented to WikiLeaks in London.
They include about 40 politicians, Elmer says.
Elmer, who after his press conference will return to Switzerland from exile in Mauritius to face trial, is a former chief operating officer in the Cayman Islands for the Julius Baer bank, which accuses him of stealing the information.
He is also - at a time when the activities of banks are a matter of public concern - one of a small band of employees and executives seeking to blow the whistle on what they see as unprofessional, immoral and even potentially criminal activity by powerful international financial institutions.
Switzerland is a fortress of banking and financial services, but is famously secretive and expert in concealing wealth from all over the world for tax evasion and other extra-legal purposes.
Elmer says he is revealing the information " to educate society".
He says his list includes "high-net worth individuals, multinational conglomerates and financial institutions - hedge funds".
They are said to be "using secrecy as a screen to hide behind in order to avoid paying tax".
They come from the US, Britain, Germany, Austria and Asia.
Clients include "business people, politicians, people who have made their living in the arts and multinational conglomerates - from both sides of the Atlantic".
Elmer says: "Well-known pillars of society will hold investment portfolios and may include houses, trading companies, artwork, yachts, jewellery, horses, and so on.
"What I am objecting to is not one particular bank, but a system of structures," he said.
"I have worked for major banks other than Julius Baer, and the one thing on which I am absolutely clear is that the banks know, and the big boys know, that money is being secreted away for tax-evasion purposes, and other things such as money-laundering."
Elmer was held in custody for 30 days in 2005, and is charged with breaking Swiss bank secrecy laws, forging documents and sending threatening messages to two Baer officials.
Elmer says: "I agree with privacy in banking for the person in the street, and legitimate activity, but in these instances privacy is being abused so that big people can get big banking organisations to service them. The normal, hard-working taxpayer is being abused also."
The names on the CDs will not be made public, just as a list of 15 clients that Elmer gave WikiLeaks in 2008 has remained undisclosed.
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