A.T.F. Filled Secret Bank Account With Millions From Shadowy Cigarette Sales

[DonViejo]

Source: New York Times



By MATT APUZZOFEB. 22, 2017

WASHINGTON — Working from an office suite behind a Burger King in southern Virginia, operatives used a web of shadowy cigarette sales to funnel tens of millions of dollars into a secret bank account. They weren’t known smugglers, but rather agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The operation, not authorized under Justice Department rules, gave agents an off-the-books way to finance undercover investigations and pay informants without the usual cumbersome paperwork and close oversight, according to court records and people close to the operation.

The secret account is at the heart of a federal racketeering lawsuit brought by a collective of tobacco farmers who say they were swindled out of $24 million. A pair of A.T.F. informants received at least $1 million each from that sum, records show.

The scheme relied on phony shipments of snack food disguised as tobacco. The agents were experts: Their job was to catch cigarette smugglers, so they knew exactly how it was done.



Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/22/us/alcohol-tobacco-firearms-cigarettes-millions-secret-bank-account.html?emc=edit_ta_20170222&nl=top-stories&nlid=57435284&ref=headline

[UpInArms]

1. how handy

[MindPilot]

8. works exactly they way they want it to

take something that people want, keep jacking the price with taxes until a black market is created, then exploit that market to bankroll law enforcement, and keep the private prisons well-stocked with slave labor.

[dalton99a]

2. How much of that went into their pockets?

[nikibatts]

11. Beat me to it. Probably more than half.

[yallerdawg]

3. Is this an example of the need for less regulation...

or more regulation?

We're gonna need a lot more "informants" and whistleblowers!

[MindPilot]

9. In this case it looks like agency doing the regulating is what needs to be regulated.

As has been said many times, "'Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms' should be a sign on a convenience store, not a government agency.' I am in agreement with at least two thirds of that statement.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. Make the agents forfeit their assets.

Bank accounts, homes, cars, boats, motorcycles; anything you can get your hands on.

[groundloop]

5. Hell Yes !!!! That's exactly what would happen to any other person, weather guilty or not.

[yellowcanine]

6. "phony shipments of snack food disguised as tobacco"

Trying to figure out how that works - and why? Bags of chips stuffed into cigarette cartons?

[MindPilot]

7. That is the same theory that makes cannabis undetectable

when enveloping a nuclear device.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

10. K&R for visibility n/t