Highjacker's Banking Problems

[Duncan Frissell]

Sept. 11 Hijackers Said to Fake Data on Bank Accounts

Sayeth the New York Times:

      July 10, 2002
      Sept. 11 Hijackers Said to Fake Data on Bank Accounts
      By JAMES RISEN

      WASHINGTON, July 9  The Sept. 11 hijackers were able to open
      35 American bank accounts without having legitimate Social
      Security numbers and opened some of the accounts with
      fabricated Social Security numbers that were never checked or
      questioned by bank officials, a senior F.B.I. official said
      today.
      ...
      With no scrutiny from the financial institutions or
      government regulators, the hijackers were able to move
      hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Middle East into
      the United States through a maze of bank accounts beginning
      more than a year before their attacks.

      A spokesman for SunTrust, which is based in Atlanta, said the
      bank had been cooperating with the F.B.I.'s investigation.
      The spokesman said it was possible for foreigners without
      Social Security numbers to open bank accounts in this
      country, but he could not provide details of what forms of
      identification the hijackers used to open the SunTrust
      accounts.
      ...
      One of the first signs of a large infusion of cash coming
      into the United States for use by the hijackers appears in
      bank records dating from 2000, when $100,000 was deposited in
      bank accounts controlled by some of the leading hijackers,
      including Mr. Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi, Mr. Lormel said.
      ...



Note that it is as legal as church on a Sunday for non-residents to open
financial accounts in the US or Switzerland or the UK etc. Many US banks
don't accommodate foreigners but that is because of sloth not law.
Certainly online brokers (who are quasi banks) do market to foreigners.

One reason that SS numbers were not verified is that the SSA has
traditionally refused to verify for privacy reasons and the alternative
method involves doing a credit check which takes time and money. And in
the case of non-interest-paying current accounts there are no tax issues.

Banks located in the "red states" are not as bureaucratic as banks in the
"blue states" and have been much slower to adopt the controls popular on
the coasts. This is changing of course but there are still many social
differences which make account transactions easier in the free states.

But let's assume for a moment that Homeland Security shuts the banks down
and requires verified DNA samples and licenses from 10 separate agencies
to open a financial account in the US. So the middle class Egyptians and
Saudis with no criminal records who attacked us are faced with the
ultimate challenge of getting the $500K they needed into the US.

By dint of heroic effort, the future highjackers manage to open bank
accounts in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. They receive ATM, debit, or credit
cards to draw on those accounts. Perhaps they encourage their French or
British co-conspirators to open accounts in those countries. They arrive
in the US and withdraw the $500 to $1000 per day maximum (per account)
from ATM machines. Assume they have only managed to open 5 accounts.
That's $2500 to $5000/day. Or 100 to 200 days to withdraw $500K. Not much
of a trick particularly since they are not limited to 5 accounts and can
get cash advances at any bank with any credit cards they have.

But then Homeland Security outlaws ATMs and credit cards (or at least the
international connections of same). This is tantamount to imposing
exchange controls which the US has never done. So the attackers have to
fall back on Krugerrands. At $333 a pop, they have to get 1500 KRs into
the country. Since bullion coins are not considered currency, they aren't
covered by financial instrument import reporting laws. But you can just
mail them one or two at a time. Most of them will get through. No big
deal.

The truth is that it's a bit tricky to block the movement of small
amounts of money like this.

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Posted by Duncan Frissell to The Technoptimist at 7/10/2002 10:30:45 AM

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