Mr. Swidarski used to work for PNC..just a "tiny" fact that the AP reporter deemed unimportant to mention..
http://www.vindy.com/basic/businesstech/310004791477689.phpsnip
D.C.'s oldest bank falls amid charges of corruption.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The imperial-looking eagle came down from Riggs Bank branches as Washington's oldest bank, sullied by a money-laundering scandal, was absorbed in a merger with a much larger bank from out of town. Signs with the more modern, abstract PNC Bank logo replaced the Riggs eagle as the $643 million acquisition of "the bank of presidents" took effect Friday.
At the branch at Indiana Avenue and Seventh Street, N.W., the imposing, old stone building with Gothic flourishes still bore a blue Riggs banner above the entrance on Friday morning. Old-fashioned bronze plaques on either side of the door said "RIGGS" and "Interest Paid on Savings Deposits."
"It's going to be a little bit of a pain," Ksenia Luchaninova, a manager at nearby "701," said of the changeover's effect on the restaurant's account at the bank. "But not too bad."
Expanding business
There were only a few customers in the capacious branch lobby. Coffee and boxed doughnuts beckoned on a table. PNC Financial Services Group Inc., now the 19th-largest bank in the country after the merger with Riggs National Corp., is offering free access to ATMs nationwide and expanded branch banking hours to lure new customers.
Pittsburgh-based PNC, which has about 775 branches in six states, also plans to add 30 new branches over the next three years in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, where Riggs has had a total 51. The focus is on garden-variety retail banking, in a Washington metropolitan market that analysts describe as lucrative, crowded and competitive. Already shuttered and sold are Riggs' hallmark embassy and international businesses, which got the bank into trouble.
In hot water
A few blocks from the Indiana Avenue branch, at the federal courthouse, Riggs pleaded guilty in January to a felony charge of failing to report suspicious transactions involving foreigners — including former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and members of his family. Riggs also agreed to pay a $16 million fine, said to be the largest criminal penalty of that type ever imposed on a bank the size of Riggs, a midsized institution with some $6.4 billion in assets. It came atop a record $25 million civil fine levied by a Treasury Department agency a year ago.
http://www.business-journal.com/LateJan03/PNClawsuit.htmlFederal Racketeering Case Against PNC Bank Appealed
01/07/03
PHILADELPHIA -- A group of homeowners and property owners from Pennsylvania and neighboring states are renewing their efforts to win a class-action lawsuit that charges PNC Bank with federal racketeering.
Plaintiffs in the federal civil RICO case of Dongelewicz, et al. v. First Eastern Bank et al. have filed an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, according to Roger S. Antao, attorney for the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs allege a pattern of corporate corruption and racketeering, undertaken over 10 years, from 1986 to 1996, by PNC Bank N.A., a subsidiary of PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and its predecessor, First Eastern Bank, and other defendants, centered on the Valley of Lakes real estate development (a/k/a "Eagle Rock Resort"), a massive 4000-plus acre recreational subdivision, located near Hazleton, Pa.
The case was certified as a class action on June 19, 1996, on behalf of approximately 1,000 individuals and families. The plaintiffs now are appealing a Sept. 30, 1999, ruling of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania which granted summary judgment to the bank, and decertified the case as a class action. While the district court then found that the evidence against the bank could support a finding of aiding and abetting of racketeering, it held that aiding and abetting of RICO is no longer actionable in the Third Circuit, Antao says.
http://www.thepoorman.net/archives/003682.htmlsnip
Riggs & Co. Vice Chairman and Director J. Carter Beese is a close associate of George
W. Bush and the Bush family. He was a Bush Pioneer in 2000 and a leading donor to the
Bush Florida recount effort. He holds a presidential appointment and has served as a
confidential advisor to George W. Bush on the nomination of high-level regulators at the
Securities and Exchange Commission. In 1992, following more than a decade of service to the
Bush family's political endeavors, George H. W. Bush appointed Beese to the post of SEC
Commissioner. Beese also helped to found the Carlyle Group, a conglomerate with historical
ties to the bin Laden family and George H. W. Bush. While serving as an executive at Alex.
Brown, Beese was mentored closely by A. B. Krongard, appointed by George W. Bush as
Executive Director of the CIA, the third highest-ranking position at the Agency.
Beese is the sole inside director on the committee charged with ensuring the bank's
compliance with Federal money-laundering regulations. In May 2004, the OCC fined
Riggs $25 million after it was determined that the bank had failed to comply with earlier
demands that Riggs improve its financial control systems. Beese is one of three directors on a
board-level committee that had been entrusted with oversight of this compliance process.
Despite the important role Beese plays, his name has never been reported in connection with
the Riggs case.
2
Promontory Financial Group, a regulatory consulting firm contracted by Riggs, recently
hired Michael A. Dawson, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, to lead the
firm's Bank Secrecy Act compliance activities. Riggs hired Promontory to help with
regulatory demands related to the BSA and U.S.A. Patriot Act. Dawson, who headed the
newly created Office for Critical Infrastructure Protection & Compliance Policy at Treasury, is
most likely leading Riggs' efforts to escape further problems related to its compliance failures.
This crossover of significant regulatory personnel is more evidence of the permeable borders
between Riggs Bank and the government agencies charged with overseeing it.
Riggs Chief Operating Officer Lawrence Connell is closely associated with Comptroller
of the Currency John D. Hawke. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which
Hawke heads, has led the investigation of Riggs Bank's wrongdoing. The OCC has been
widely criticized for lax oversight of Riggs Bank. Connell and Hawke served together on the
Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee for nine years.
Riggs Chairman Joe Allbritton is a longtime friend of the Bush family. He supported
Bush's election and is a trustee and founding patron of the George H. W. Bush Presidential
Library.
Riggs Bank and the US Treasury Department have an unusually close contracting
relationship. Beginning under the administration of George H. W. Bush, Riggs has handled
the processing of the Federal government's cash accounts. Riggs controls the government's
cash flow and account reconciliation systems.
so..can we say "business as usual"?????
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