11:07 AM
Is It (Finally) Time For Banks To Worry About WikiLeaks?
A former senior Swiss bank executive says he has given WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange details of more than 2,000 prominent individuals and companies that he suggests engaged in tax evasion and other possible criminal activity.
Given Assange's new celebrity status, the news was announced – or even better in terms of publicity, the bank executive was actually shown handing over to Assange the CDs containing the data – at a press conference in London.
Rudolf M. Elmer, who ran the Caribbean operations of the Swiss bank Julius Baer for eight years until he was dismissed in 2002, refused to identify any of the individuals or companies, but he told reporters that about 40 politicians and “pillars of society” were among them, the New York Times reported.
He said those named in the documents come from “the U.S., Britain, Germany, Austria and Asia — from all over,” and include “business people, politicians, people who have made their living in the arts and multinational conglomerates — from both sides of the Atlantic.” Elmer said he had turned to WikiLeaks to “educate society” about what he considers an unfair system that serves the rich and aids those who seek to launder money.
Julius Baer, which the Times notes is a 120-year-old institution that is usually known for its intense privacy, said in a statement that it denied all wrongdoing and suggested that Elmer was pursuing a “vendetta” against Julius Baer.
The financial industry is currently also waiting for the data Assange says he has obtained on a prominent U.S. bank, widely thought to be Bank of America. Assange says he will release the information within the next 2 weeks.
For now at least, the financial industry isn't shaking. So far, despite the massive publicity, information leaked by WikiLeaks has come and gone without making much of an impact.
Add to that the fact that post-financial crisis, few believe leaked info about BofA or another bank could reveal anything worse about what has gone on behind closed doors than what has already emerged from the mortgage crisis or the Madoff scandal.
Unless of course it finally proves to be WikiLeaks' first, real coup?
Melanie Rodier has worked as a print and broadcast journalist for over 10 years, covering business and finance, general news, and film trade news. Prior to joining Wall Street & Technology in April 2007, Melanie lived in Paris, where she worked for the International Herald ... View Full Bio