EXCERPT:
In June 2010, it was reported that Xe(Blackwater) was being put up for sale and that Prince may be planning to move to the United Arab Emirates. The Nation magazine story said that the move, if it happened, would make it difficult for the US to extradite Prince if he were to face US criminal charges for his and his firm's past dealings with the US government. The UAE and US do not have an extradition treaty.[37]
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/General+News/75974/Hacker-Arrested-After-Cracking-Federal-Reserve.html
Hacker Arrested After Cracking Federal Reserve
(Friday, November 19th, 2010)
A 32-year-old Malaysian man was arrested shortly after his arrival last month at John F. Kennedy airport in New York City. His crime? Authorities say he hacked into the Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank and several other computer systems, including a defense contractor.Lin Mun Poo, a Malaysian national, faces a four-count indictment that charges him with hacking into computer systems and the possession of more than 400,000 stolen credit and debit card numbers.
“Cybercriminals continue to use their sophistication and skill as hackers to attack our financial and national security sectors,” says Loretta Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Poo’s arrest comes just a month after authorities arrested a big cyber crime gang in the U.S. and Europe for similar crimes.
The list of victims includes FedComp, a data processor for federal credit unions. With access to FedComp’s computers, Poo had unauthorized access to the data of federal credit unions, including the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York and the Mercer County New Jersey Teachers. Poo also is charged with breaking into computer servers of a number of major financial institutions and companies, including a computer network of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Ohio, by exploiting a security vulnerability. The bank states Poo only broke into a test computer system and didn’t access any sensitive information.
Security expert Avivah Litan, an analyst at Gartner, says while it isn’t clear how Poo got in to the Federal Reserve’s system, this hack “highlights the need for PCI enforcement at banks, including government banks — not just at merchants and payment processors.” She points out banks have always “wiggled out” of formal PCI data security enforcement and audits. “Merchants have been complaining about this lopsided effort for years,” Litan says.
Poo’s cybercrime spree, according to authorities, extended to the national security sector. Court filings show that in August 2010 he allegedly hacked into the computer system of a Department of Defense contractor that provides systems management for military transport and other operations, potentially compromising highly sensitive military logistics information.
Poo faces a maximum of 10 years if convicted on all charges.
(Source: Bank Info Security)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/12/17/tech/main7160312.shtml
BOCA RATON, Fla., Dec. 17, 2010
(AP) Shoppers who are looking for something sparkly to put under the Christmas tree can skip the jewelry and go straight to the source: an ATM that dispenses shiny 24-carat gold bars and coins. Gold-Dispensing ATM Makes U.S. Debut in Fla.
Machine's Inventor Says Majority of Buyers of Gold Bars, Coins Will be Attracted by Novelty
A German company installed the machine Friday at an upscale mall in Boca Raton, a South Florida paradise of palm trees, pink buildings and wealthy retirees.
Thomas Geissler, CEO of Ex Oriente Lux and inventor of the Gold To Go machines, says the majority of buyers will be walk-ups enamored by the novelty. But he says they're also convenient for more serious investors looking to bypass the hassle of buying gold at pawn shops and over the Internet.
"Instead of buying flowers or chocolates, which is gone after two or three minutes, this will stay for the next few hundred years," Geissler told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
The company installed its first machine at Abu Dhabi's Emirates Palace hotel in May and followed up with gold ATMs in Germany, Spain and Italy. Geissler said they plan to unroll a few hundred machines worldwide in 2011. He said the Abu Dhabi machine has been so popular it has to be restocked every two days.
A bank in Vietnam installed its own brand of the machines in a country with a much poorer population but one that values gold more than paper money.
The gold-leaf-covered machine at Boca Raton's Town Center Mall sits outside a gourmet chocolate store and works much like the cash ATM beside it. Shoppers insert cash or credit cards and use a computer touch-screen to choose the weight and style they want. The machine spits out the gold in a classy black box with a tamperproof seal.
Each machine, manufactured in Germany, carries about 320 pieces of different-sized bars and coins. Prices are refigured automatically every 10 minutes to reflect market fluctuations. On Friday, a two-gram piece cost about $122, including packaging, certification and a 5 percent markup. An ounce cost about $1,442.
Buyer beware: A gram of the heavy metal is much smaller than you think, about the size of a fingernail. An ounce is a little larger than a quarter.
Florence Schneider, who checked out the machine Friday, said she might use it, but only if she needed a unique gift.
"I can't see it being successful. Maybe for Christmas as a gimmick," said the 78-year-old Boca Raton resident. "If I knew someone was having a big birthday coming up I'd buy it for something different."
Owners said the machine, which will hold around $150,000 in cash and gold, will be flanked by an armed bodyguard for now. Several live security cameras are fixed inside and outside the machine.
The popularity of gold is cyclical, but it's riding high these days in part because of fears stoked by financial troubles.
Geissler, who plans to open a machine in Las Vegas by the year's end, said the collapse of the Lehman Brothers investment firm was the impetus for the flashy ATMs. His customers refused to buy bonds, stocks and other funds from the financial industry, so they focused on precious metals.
As some investors continued to lose faith in global finance markets, the company worked on the gold-leaf finished ATM, banking that the protection of purchasing power found in gold would lure market leery customers.
"Gold always comes back to its real value," Geissler said. "It's not diamonds, it's not silver, it's not real estate. It's just gold."
Dave Jones, who brokered the deal to bring the machines to the U.S., predicts gold will become a parallel currency in the next five years. He said they plan to install about 40 more machines at upscale malls and hotels around the U.S.
"Gold has a place in everyone's portfolio," said Jones, of Boca Raton-based PMX Gold. "It's a good hedge against inflation and it's a good comfort level."
http://z4.invisionfree.com/The_Great_Deception/index.php?showtopic=2363
http://rigorousintuition.blogspot.com/2005/01/michael-chertoff-and-sabotage-of-ptech.html
EXCERPT:
In October 2001, President George W. Bush signed an executive order freezing the assets of individuals linked to terrorism. According to Bergantino, the list identified Saudi Arabian businessman Yassin Al-Qadi as a key financial backer of Osama Bin Laden. As it turns out, Bergantino said, Al-Qadi also is the chief financier of Ptech. The government failed to investigate Ptech in October 2001 and didn't start it's investigation until August 2002 when WBZ-TV's investigation called attention to Ptech.
http://www.nationalcorruptionindex.org/pages/profile.php?profile_id=6
EXCERPT:
Yassin Al-Qadi
Last Updated: January 06, 2009
Since the early '80s, his close colleagues have been big-time money sources for both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Three weeks after September 11th, Saudi banker Yassin Al-Qadi was declared a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT), charged with directly sending millions to Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, through US-based business and Muslim charity fronts.
For the previous six years, Al-Qadi was the major shareholder in a small startup company - Ptech – somehow given control of the U.S. Government’s most vital computer systems. Included, among others, were the Departments of Defense, State, Energy, Transportation and Justice.
Eerily unknown is the fact that this Bin Laden banker’s company developed the FAA’s National Airspace System, newly in operation on the morning of September 11. Even less known is that the Ptech computer chief who created and installed the new FAA software was Felix Rausch, former Deputy IT Chief of the White House, and overall IT Chief of INTERPOL.
Al-Qadi could and should have been arrested several years earlier. In early 2002, Robert Wright, head of the FBI’s Terror Finance Unit (“Vulgar Betrayal”), publicly charged that since 1998, his superiors had blocked him from arresting Al-Qadi.
http://www.nationalcorruptionindex.org/pages/profile.php?profile_id=264
EXCERPT:
Ptech's IT Chief was Felix Rausch, formerly INTERPOL's IT Chief, and also Deputy IT Chief at the White House.
http://boston.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/bs071509.htm
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