Comments on: Just as long as we get to keep the guns ....\

Just as long as we get to keep the guns ....\

magullo — Fri, 11 Apr 2003 07:59:06 -0800

PayPal charged with breaking Patriot Act. Anybody care to explain what does terrorism have to do with glambing? (No, it is not a rescued April fool's joke ...)

By: quonsar

quonsar — Fri, 11 Apr 2003 08:08:41 -0800

if you're not down with the patriot act, you must be one of those filthy glambers.

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Fri, 11 Apr 2003 08:12:04 -0800

Glambing sounds like something that would be illegal.

By: Outlawyr

Outlawyr — Fri, 11 Apr 2003 08:19:14 -0800

Will this affect glam rock? Cause I love that stuff.

By: Pretty_Generic

Pretty_Generic — Fri, 11 Apr 2003 08:23:57 -0800

Only glam rock versions of Bing Crosby.

By: bkdelong

bkdelong — Fri, 11 Apr 2003 08:35:24 -0800

You know it's bad when the US government has to reach to find funds short of raising taxes.

By: Bag Man

Bag Man — Fri, 11 Apr 2003 08:43:22 -0800

Anybody care to explain what does terrorism have to do with gambling? The P-Act places a high burden on financial institutions who receive money to make sure that money does not come from terrorists. Why? So terror operations cannot be funded via banks, investment houses, casinos, currency exchanges, etc. I guess Paypal comes under the definition of the regulated institutions. No one is suggesting gamblers are "filthy" or are terrorists. Is the fair? Not really, it seems that the burdens created by this brightline rule needs to be mitigated so smaller institutions don't get crushed by the reporting, investigation and record keeping standards.

By: spilon

spilon — Fri, 11 Apr 2003 09:52:09 -0800

OK, so here in Georgia we have a state lottery game called "Pick 3" where if you pick the correct 3 numbers you get $500. This is widely used to launder ill-gotten money, 'cause all you have to do is buy 1,000 tickets and your $1,000 of dirty money is guaranteed to be transformed into $500 of clean money, courtesy of the State o' GA. Does that mean that Governor Perdue has to go to Guantanamo for knowingly laundering cash for criminals? Actually, that might be a good thing.....

By: reverendX

reverendX — Fri, 11 Apr 2003 10:14:38 -0800

spilon: I don't understand how the 'pick 3' scheme results in money laundering. Doesn't money laundering require some sort of sham business to show false earnings?

By: magullo

magullo — Fri, 11 Apr 2003 10:26:38 -0800

"Doesn't money laundering require some sort of sham business to show false earnings?" Money laundering is converting money not accounted for into money accounted for. Since you can account for gambling profits without having to explain how much money you gambled in the first place, the field is ripe for such schemes. If you do no mind losing some "dirty" money in order to clean it (there is always a price ...), you can simply offer to buy a from a lottery winner the winning ticket - for a higher price than the prize money. Works like a charm as long as the tricket seller does not deposit in his/her bank money he or she cannot account for (better spend it as cash). Another easy way involves dealing with casino chips. Look up the story of the Australian organized crime gangs paying underlings with Sydney casino chips ("Hey cashier, would you believe it? I won again!).

By: reverendX

reverendX — Fri, 11 Apr 2003 16:33:28 -0800

magullo: thanks for the explanation, that cleared it up. (I kinda felt like the guy in Office Space when asking this.)