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posted by martyb on Thursday August 04 2016, @12:04PM   Printer-friendly
from the waddle-waddle-quack-quack dept.

The Obama administration quietly shipped $400 million stacked on wooden pallets in an unmarked plane to Iran in January — just as Tehran was releasing four Americans who had been detained there, according to a report.

The huge cash load represented the first payment of a $1.7 billion debt that Iran, at an international tribunal in The Hague, claimed it was owed over a failed 1979 arms deal signed before the fall of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal Tuesday night.

The Obama administration was accused Tuesday night of making the cash-for-hostages deal by timing the payout to the release — but US officials said the money was simply part of settling the nearly 40-year-old debt under the terms of the historic nuclear agreement hammered out in 2015.

"As we've made clear, the negotiations over the settlement of an outstanding claim . . . were completely separate from the discussions about returning our American citizens home," State Department spokesman John Kirby told the Journal.

Source: New York Post

the Obama administration transferred the equivalent of $400 million to their central banks. It was then converted into other currencies, stacked onto the wooden pallets and sent to Iran on board a cargo plane.

Source: The Wall Street Journal


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  • (Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Thursday August 04 2016, @03:25PM

    by Rosco P. Coltrane (4757) on Thursday August 04 2016, @03:25PM (#384081)

    ... how the US government can ship 400 million bucks to an "ennemy state" in crates onboard a plane, and I can't withdraw 20 grand from my fucking bank account without the fucking teller informing the authorities that I might be a terrorist who's up to no good, or that I'm trying to launder money, or evade taxes...

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by fishybell on Thursday August 04 2016, @03:49PM

    by fishybell (3156) on Thursday August 04 2016, @03:49PM (#384088)

    *You can very much withdraw as much cash from your account as you wish; you just have to fill out a form saying what it's for. The inconvenience and/or privacy violation is pretty minimal. They only really care if you hear the "please fill out this form," and then you withdraw under the $10,000 limit. At that point you're either clearly hiding something or being extremely paranoid. If you're just crazy paranoid, I'm sorry that you broke the law, take it easy next time.

    *The generic "you," not actually Rosco P. Coltrane you.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 04 2016, @03:59PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 04 2016, @03:59PM (#384092)

      I have run into that form... they use it for amounts under $10,000 now as well. The reason I gave was "It's my money." After some rolled-eyes from the teller supervisor, they gave me my money.

      • (Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday August 04 2016, @06:44PM

        by frojack (1554) on Thursday August 04 2016, @06:44PM (#384165) Journal

        They put you on the list. But found the entry was a duplicate.

        --
        No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
    • (Score: 3, Touché) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Thursday August 04 2016, @03:59PM

      by Rosco P. Coltrane (4757) on Thursday August 04 2016, @03:59PM (#384093)

      And tell me exactly how you come to think it normal that I should tell anyone at all what I want to do with my money, regardless of the amount?

      • (Score: 2) by richtopia on Thursday August 04 2016, @08:03PM

        by richtopia (3160) on Thursday August 04 2016, @08:03PM (#384197) Homepage Journal

        You know there is some quote about taxes and avoiding them and death. 10000USD is the limit for a gift not to be taxed. Pretty much everything else you can spend that money on is illegal or already has tax structure in place.

        • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 04 2016, @08:21PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 04 2016, @08:21PM (#384207)

          For USA the current limit on tax-free gifts is $14,000. Or double that if a couple give to one person.

          https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/frequently-asked-questions-on-gift-taxes [irs.gov]

          > How many annual exclusions are available?
          > The annual exclusion applies to gifts to each donee. In other words, if you give each of your children $11,000 in 2002-2005, $12,000 in 2006-2008, $13,000 in 2009-2012 and $14,000 on or after January 1, 2013, the annual exclusion applies to each gift. The annual exclusion for 2014, 2015, and 2016 is $14,000.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 04 2016, @07:14PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 04 2016, @07:14PM (#384179)

      If you're just crazy paranoid, I'm sorry that you broke the law

      The SAP reporting requirements to FINCEN are for banks only, most emphatically not a bank's customers.

      The last time I made a cash transaction of over $20,000, I didn't tell the bank staff anything as to my intended purpose. By law, anything I would have said is required to be recorded in a Suspicious Activity Report ("suspicious" based solely on the dollar value), which is insulting and repugnant to a free people. There was quite a bit of fuss among the bank staff, but after calmly and politely mentioning those facts a few times and nothing else, they processed my transaction, sent off their essentially empty SAP, and that was that.

    • (Score: 2, Troll) by CirclesInSand on Thursday August 04 2016, @07:38PM

      by CirclesInSand (2899) on Thursday August 04 2016, @07:38PM (#384184)

      When you don't defend your own rights, you make it harder for us to defend ours. You've gone a step further and are openly antagonistic to people defending their rights.

      I'm always amazed at the smug tone that people use to say "just let the government abuse you they way I let them abuse me". It takes some literary skill to be simultaneously patronizing and pitiful.