Word: abedi
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Agha Hasan Abedi, founder of the Bank of Credit & Commerce International, ranks as one of the great criminal minds of his time, a man who built a financial web that is unlikely ever to be completely understood. In fact, B.C.C.I. might have endured longer had Abedi not fallen gravely ill in the late 1980s. The frail 68-year-old could only watch from his estate in Karachi when the branches of his bank were seized in 69 countries last July...
...Abedi made connections with power elites worldwide, from corporations like BankAmerica to officials like former President Jimmy Carter, whose charitable foundations received $10 million in donations. On its darker side, B.C.C.I. provided services for Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, the Medellin cocaine cartel and terrorist organizations around the world. The most nefarious aspect of B.C.C.I. was its "black network," which engaged in terrorism, intimidation and paramilitary actions...
...less than dynamic prosecution. But last week the department indicted B.C.C.I. and three bank officials, charging them with illegally taking over Independence Bank of Encino, Calif., and with fraud that contributed to the billion-dollar downfall of Florida's CenTrust thrift. Indicted with the bank were founder Agha Hasan Abedi, former bank president Swaleh Naqvi and B.C.C.I. front man Ghaith Pharaon. Since the U.S. stands little chance of extraditing Abedi from Pakistan and Naqvi faces charges in Abu Dhabi, Pharaon's indictment may be the most productive of the three. The Saudi national is believed to be holed...
...organizations had a strong human link as well, grounded in the friendship between B.C.C.I. founder Agha Hasan Abedi and Bank of America's A.W. (Tom) Clausen, who was chairman during 1970-81 and 1986-90. When regulators seized B.C.C.I. offices around the world last July, three of the seven directors on its board were former high-ranking Bank of America executives. On that same day, the California bank disclosed that it still had $177.4 million of B.C.C.I.'s money in its accounts...
...hope of gaining entree to Middle Eastern business, Bank of America backed the founding of B.C.C.I. by providing Abedi with $612,000 in seed money and the prestige of the then largest bank in the world. In exchange, the San Francisco bank got 25% of B.C.C.I.'s stock, seats on the bank's board of directors, and access to Abedi's extraordinary connections in the gulf states. By early 1974, Bank of America had boosted its ownership stake...