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Joe Shlabotnik

(5,604 posts)
Sat Jul 19, 2014, 09:38 PM Jul 2014

Biggest bank robbery that ‘never happened’ – $400m ISIS heist

It was described as one the biggest heists in the history of bank robbery: more than $400m reportedly stolen from Mosul financial institutions by the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, known as Isis, as it seized control of Iraq’s second-largest city of Mosul last month.

But Iraqi bankers in Mosul and the capital, Baghdad, are saying the robbery never took place and that the cash remains inside the vaults of the city’s banks.

“We have been following up on this question of the stolen money since the beginning of the crisis,” Abdul-Aziz Hassoun, executive director of the Iraqi Private Banks League, told the Financial Times during a recent meeting in Baghdad.

“We speak to the banks there all the time. We have been informed that all are guarded from the outside by their own guards and that nothing has been removed from the premises of any banks, not even a piece of paper.”

Reports that Isis had stolen 500bn Iraqi dinars ($430m) from Mosul financial institutions as the Islamist group and its Sunni insurgent allies seized control of the city more than a month ago raised alarm bells in the west and throughout the region, amid concern over the ambitions and growing capacity of extremist Islamists.

Iraq officials, including one-time CIA asset and lawmaker Ahmed Chalabi, described the alleged bank heist in comments cited by Iraqi and international media.
More at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0378d4f4-0c28-11e4-9080-00144feabdc0.html

Ok, so if this is true, will our media report it? Or just continue to go with the original story of ISIS robbing $400M anyway. This article is the first and only account of this twist to the story that I've heard yet.
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Biggest bank robbery that ‘never happened’ – $400m ISIS heist (Original Post) Joe Shlabotnik Jul 2014 OP
If Chalabi Turbineguy Jul 2014 #1
Never mind...the media has moved on to further blatant speculation on other more important matters. Fred Sanders Jul 2014 #2
It'll be like the Iraqi Museum looting. Igel Jul 2014 #3

Fred Sanders

(23,946 posts)
2. Never mind...the media has moved on to further blatant speculation on other more important matters.
Sat Jul 19, 2014, 10:37 PM
Jul 2014

I say the media will eventually report it and pretend that the sources turned out to be unreliable, and quickly move on to a kitten gif.

Remember when reporting hard news required two reliable sources? Now it just takes someone with an internet connection and some imagination and malice. Plenty of that sort.

Igel

(35,197 posts)
3. It'll be like the Iraqi Museum looting.
Sat Jul 19, 2014, 11:47 PM
Jul 2014

Most of the really impressive pieces weren't ever looted. It took a while for the media to catch on to this, and a lot of people never updated their mental databases.


Not sure that this rates as much notice.

The theft itself didn't add much to their reputation for being really bad bad guys, it just made us more afraid because they'd be able to buy more weapons. IS(IS) has decent funding anyway from a number of domestic sources. This would have been a one-time surge in funding and it's not like the non-theft of the money has hurt them any.

Reporting that the money wasn't taken would just enhance their prestige because, well, they could have taken the money but they're just too danged honest.

That's if it's true. Might be bankers trying to dispel fears of liquidity problems or bank capitalization.

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