When I moved back to Florida, I first opened an account at The Mall Bank on Palm Beach Lakes Blvd. This bank was eventually acquired by First Union. I then became a First Union customer. In 2001, The First Union Bank made a stock swap deal and bought Wachovia Bank keeping the name Wachovia. At the end of 2008, Wells Fargo was given federal stimulus in the amount of $25 billion and then bought Wachovia for $15.1 billion on an all stock merger. So, here I am, all these years, affiliated with the same bank, sort of.
Wachovia has always been a conservative bank paying very little interest to its customers. It has been rated as a safe bank, getting 4 stars from Bankrate.com, in spite of its risky loan portfolio. All along and unbeknown to anyone, there were some executives involved in some heavy duty hanky panky and padding their wallets even more by being part of a criminal money laundering scheme of Mexican drug profits. Can it get more criminal than this? It's no wonder we can't close the border.
The Feds have been on this case for the last 3 years and have now cut a deal with Wachovia—pay back the $160 million plus a $50 million fine and we won’t prosecute you! So, what has happened here, the citizens of the United States are once again picking up the tab and the crooks get off free! This, as well as other conditions, must be met within one year. Only in America.
Charles Steel, deputy director of the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said, “The integrity of our financial system is at stake.” Was he joking?
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