White Powder & Threats Sent to Banks

[CaptainChewbacca]

This is CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Letters containing white powder that were sent to more than 50 financial institutions warned that "it's payback time," the FBI said Thursday.

"Steal tens of thousands of people's money and not expect repercussions. It's payback time. What you just breathed in will kill you within 10 days. Thank [word redacted] and the FDIC for your demise," said one letter released by the FBI on Thursday.

Most of the letters contained a powder that the FBI said is harmless.

But sending the letters is "a serious crime," even if they are a hoax, FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said in a statement.

More than 50 letters were received this week at financial institutions in 11 states and the District of Columbia, the FBI said.

The letters were all sent from Amarillo, Texas, to branches of Chase Bank; the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which insures bank deposits; and the U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision, a regulatory agency. Not all the letters contained exactly the same wording, the FBI said.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is offering a reward of up to $100,000 "for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible."

The FBI, U.S. postal inspectors and state and local authorities are investigating, resulting in "a drain on resources" for those agencies, Kolko said.

"Law enforcement will continue to work to identify and arrest those responsible," Kolko said .

As of Thursday, financial institutions in New York, New Jersey, the District of Columbia, Ohio, Illinois, Colorado, Oklahoma, Georgia, Texas, Virginia, California and Arizona have received the letters, the FBI reported.

Kolko said that field tests on the powder included in the letters have found no sign of a hazardous material but that additional tests were being conducted.

Most of the letters have been sent to branches of JPMorgan Chase, one law enforcement official said on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Bring on the crazy! Its pretty damn widespread.

[aerius]

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Paulson, Dimon, Bernanke, Cox, or any one of the other big players responsible for the financial mess gets taken out in a shooting spree by some pissed off psycho.

[Mayabird]

Actually, I would be highly surprised if any of the people who were responsible for this current panic got taken out in any way, not just the feds but also the banking CEOs and managers and so on. If anybody gets murdered, it'll end up being someone who had nothing to do with anything, like some bank teller who just so happened to be working the day some pissed-off psycho came in and started shooting.

[Col. Crackpot]

Actually, I would be highly surprised if any of the people who were responsible for this current panic got taken out in any way, not just the feds but also the banking CEOs and managers and so on. If anybody gets murdered, it'll end up being someone who had nothing to do with anything, like some bank teller who just so happened to be working the day some pissed-off psycho came in and started shooting.

exactly. quite frankly we get more than our share of nutjobs making a scene when times our good. never mind now.

[The Yosemite Bear]

yes, but why send perfectly good cocaine to the banks....


oh yeah, first you get the drugs, then you get the money, then you get the women....

[irishmick79]

yes, but why send perfectly good cocaine to the banks....


oh yeah, first you get the drugs, then you get the money, then you get the women....

Yeah, apparently these individuals don't realize that you need to sell the drugs before getting money from the bank. You can't just establish a bank account with a mound of cocaine. Maybe in some Mexican or Colombian banks dominated by drug lords you could get away with that, but not here. All we need here is a quick briefing on common American banking practices and this will sort itself out.

Jesting aside, fuck whoever is doing this. Crap like this makes it harder to advocate for stiffer punishments in relation to bank meltdowns, because after all, these poor bankers are getting targeted by vigilante attacks. They'll turn around and say "haven't we suffered enough already?" while pointing to incidents like this whenever the calls for stricter regulations/penalties/punishments arise.

[Big Orange]

I think any terroristic attack on banks in reprisalf for the economic woes would just kill innocent staff members and customers. Although the City of London is encricled by a Children of Men style security cordon and the police officers manning it are entirely seperate from the Met, who are said to be (by conspiracy nuts) almost like an Praetorian Guard for the financial corporations located there.