Usa Thread

[Coss]

Is that Hilary on the right?

[Flashermac]

Nah, Hilsie was already an old cow by 1979.

[Flashermac]

Diplomat charged with selling US visas

 

 

WASHINGTON - A consular officer allegedly sold visas for millions of dollars at the US Consulate in Saigon, and laundered millions in profits by buying real estate in Phuket and Bangkok, reports said Sunday.

 

Foreign Service officer Michael T Sestak was charged by the US government with selling non-resident visas (green cards), mostly for between $50,000 and $70,000 - roughly 1.5 million to 2.1 million baht.

 

He has been held without bail for more than a week as a "serious flight risk" defendant. Mr Sestak faces charges of conspiracy to commit visa fraud and bribery.

 

The story was covered up by the US State Department, but was revealed by McClatchy news agency last Friday.

 

The number of visas allegedly sold by Mr Sestak, 42, is not yet known. But a 28-page affidavit filed by the US government against him alleges he "received several million dollars in bribes" from Vietnamese seeking to emigrate to the United States.

 

The affidavit alleged:

 

"He ultimately moved the money out of Vietnam by using money launderers through offshore banks, primarily based in China, to a bank account in Thailand that he opened in May 2012. He then used the money to purchase real estate in Phuket and Bangkok, Thailand."

 

Presumably, Mr Sestak bought condominiums, although the affidavit did not reveal that detail.

 

The investigation of the alleged green-card sales took 10 months from its beginning to the arrest of Mr Sestak last week in California. It began when an informant told the US government that 50 to 70 people from one Vietnamese village had all obtained visas by paying bribes.

 

During his service at the consulate in Vietnam's commercial hub, the rate of visa rejections fell from 35 per cent to just 8.2 per cent.

 

The charges against Mr Sestak include five alleged co-conspirators, who have not yet been named outside court. One is the "general director of the Vietnam office of a multi-national company located in Vietnam". The four other are friends or relatives of this person, all of whom live in Vietnam.

 

Along with Mr Sestak, the group allegedly advertised on the quiet that visas to the US could be obtained for a price by going through them.

 

Both inside Vietnam and in Vietnamese communities in the US, the group advertised that visas could be guaranteed, including for those who wouldn't otherwise be likely candidates, reports said. Other co-conspirators were paid to help to prepare the applications, and Mr Sestak would review the application and approve it, provided the money was right.

 

 

http://www.bangkokpo...old-green-cards

[dean]

I've never understood why these so called "smart people" think that they can get away with an elaborate crime that requires knowledge of the crime by many people. All it takes is one disgruntled cohort that thinks that they were cheated by the perpetrator to go to the authorities for the scheme to implode.

[Flashermac]

It is not that easy to get into the US Foreign Service either. I have a friend who tried three times and never made it, and he was an honours graduate with an MA from Princeton.

[unit731]

DMV office in Green Valley, Arizona.

Small office. Full time.

 

At one point I think all of the employees were fired. Can't remember if other actions taken.

 

They were selling AZ drivers licenses. Lots of them.

 

And, they, too, thought that they had found a way to do this without consequences.

[Flashermac]

GOP ought to be "closed for repairs," says Bob Dole

 

 

Former Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole doesn't think much of his party these days.

 

Dole, who ran against President Bill Clinton in 1996 and was the leader of Senate Republicans for much of the 1980s and 90s, slammed the GOP for excessive obstructionism and for failing to convey a forward-looking agenda during an interview on "Fox News Sunday."

 

Never one to mince words, Dole did not absolve President Obama of the blame for the dysfunction in Washington, D.C., but he directed the lion's share of his criticism at his own party.

 

"I think they ought to put a sign on the [Republican] national committee doors that says 'closed for repairs' until New Year's Day next year and spend that time going over ideas and positive agendas," Dole said.

 

Asked whether Republicans of years past, many of whom had a more diplomatic approach to compromise and governance than today's Republicans, would be able to make it in the modern GOP, Dole said, "I doubt it."

 

"Reagan wouldn't have made it. Certainly Nixon couldn't have made it, because he had ideas," he explained. "We might have made it, but I doubt it."

 

And much of the blame for the gridlock, Dole said, rests with a fractious Congress that seems more interested in partisan drama than doing its job.

 

"It seems to be almost unreal that we can't get together on a budget or legislation," Dole said, comparing today's Congress unfavorably with the institution in which he served for decades. "We weren't perfect by a long shot, but at least we got our work done."

 

The Senate, Dole said, is in particularly dire need of a fix.

 

While it's not quite broken, it's "bent really badly," he said. "As [former Senate leader] Howard Baker said, 'Running the Senate is like herding cats.' But it takes leadership. Somebody has to stand up and say, 'We're going to do this.'"

 

Dole said there is "no doubt" Republicans have abused the filibuster by erecting a record number of procedural hurdles during President Obama's tenure. "There are some cases we can probably justify it, but not many," he said.

Obama backs Reid on filibuster reform

How Obama can work his will in gridlocked Washington

 

Despite Dole's acerbic commentary on his own party, he said that President Obama, who has been criticized as aloof and detached, must shoulder some of the blame for the toxic stew of partisanship that D.C. has become.

 

"I'm not a critic of the president, but I think one mistake he's made was not getting together more with Congress earlier on, in his first administration," Dole said. "There's nothing like knowing the person you're talking to on the telephone if you've had an opportunity to sit down with that person and visit, not about anything, but just visit."

 

"I think, as a president, he lacks communication skills with his own party, let alone the Republican Party," he added.

 

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57586242/gop-ought-to-be-closed-for-repairs-says-bob-dole/

[Steve]

I've never understood why these so called "smart people" think that they can get away with an elaborate crime that requires knowledge of the crime by many people. All it takes is one disgruntled cohort that thinks that they were cheated by the perpetrator to go to the authorities for the scheme to implode.

 

Actually there are tons of scams, etc. that go on for a long time unnoticed. Either by luck or the people have their ducks in a row. I know first hand about some stuff that goes on.

In poor black and latino neighborhoods there are tons of services, products, etc. one can get and they have gone on for years. Until they changed over the last couple years, food stamps were as easy to get at a discount as you could anything legal. They handed out more than some women and families needed and they were always resold at a 50% discount was the usual markdown. Many people got them to buy meat at a markdown price since that was one of the most expensive things to buy in a supermarket.

Everyone in east and southcentral LA as well as Compton knew of a garage and authorized person who could have your car pass smog check for a price. That was routine. Meds such as vicadin and percocet were easily gotten. Same with viagra. These have been going for years.

 

They are never reported because these things are seen as necessary by all involved. The people are poor and no one will report it because its a ":needed" service.

 

Other scams get found out because people get greedy. Falsified tax returns were all the rage during the last half dozen years. In fact, I read a story that many drug dealers in Miami gave up drug dealing for false tax returns because the profits were the same and the penalty if caught were a smidgen of what you do for coke or heroin. In LA it was very common. I personally know of one guy who opened his own Jackson Hewit so that he could run false tax returns through it.

 

There have been some stories where someone has a scam going on for years and years. The thing with any such thing is not only making sure it can't be detected but not getting greedy. Make money and get out even if you think it will take some time to get caught. One of the things to check is the statute of limitations. There are plenty of people who have gotten away with things because they did it too long ago. Most stuff is 5-7 years statute of limitations. In theory you could have said you sold drugs and not go to jail. I think its 7 years.

[Steve]

Dole makes some very valid points. Obama, ironically enough known as a great communicator via his speeches has seemed a little bitter I think and has viewed obstruction not as politics but as a personal attack on his person. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't but part of the job as President is to be thick skinned and get on with the job and if that takes visiting key members of Congress and playing nice you put aside your personal differences and do it.

You took an oath to serve the best interest of the country. Get it done.

 

When I was a middle level manager in corporate America there were a lot of people who I didn't like personally but I had to get sh*t done. My boss said I was paid to get things done, i wasn't paid to work with who I wanted to. He was right.

 

As for the gridlock, I have often read and its my belief that there are some Republicans that will refuse to work on anything substantive with the President just so that he doesn't get any 'wins'. There is legislation that even Republicans agree with that they will stonewall on. We all know about nominations are that are stalled for the silly and petty reasons, most recently McCain and Graham.

The Senate has traditionally been the most congenial of the two houses. Its the House that has been traditioinally the most cantankerous.

[BelgianBoy]

politics today (everywhere) seems more like anti-politics..... its not anymore what politics can do, but all about destroying what other politicians try to accomplish.....