(Muammar Gaddafi and one of the US most profitable banks were firm financial friends in 2008)
Courtesy of RT News
Before the hostilities with Libya and Col. Gaddafi, Libya was a top international investor with an impressive portfolio with a top U.S. bank. Today, that fund is virtually empty and little remorse from the American bankers.
Before the hostilities with Libya and Col. Gaddafi, Libya was a top international investor with an impressive portfolio with a top U.S. bank. Today, that fund is virtually empty and little remorse from the American bankers.
Long before the hostilities, everyone wanted to be Col. Gaddafi`s friend and get on the gravy train. According to RT News: Wall Street Journal reported that Goldman Sachs offered Gaddafi the chance of becoming a huge shareholder. But only after losing 98 per cent of Libya’s $1.3 billion sovereign-wealth fund in just a few months.
“They lost a staggering percentage. I do not know how you lose 98 per cent of something. It was a bet on options on European banks and energy companies whose stocks plunged shortly thereafter. But in any case, clearly they saw a goldmine in Gaddafi,” said Russ Backer, an investigative journalist.
When the fund, controlled by Colonel Gaddafi, nearly emptied, Goldman ponied up offers to recoup losses. According to the journal, Libya would get $5 billion worth of Goldman shares – in return for making a $3.7 billion investment in the securities firm. Libya agreed to buy the bank’s debt, but with a promise of a lucrative annual 6 per cent return for 20 years.
“Goldman knew it was about to head into a nosedive and there they were selling Libyans a piece of junk, which was themselves,” stated Greg Palast, an investigative journalist.
“They lost a staggering percentage. I do not know how you lose 98 per cent of something. It was a bet on options on European banks and energy companies whose stocks plunged shortly thereafter. But in any case, clearly they saw a goldmine in Gaddafi,” said Russ Backer, an investigative journalist.
When the fund, controlled by Colonel Gaddafi, nearly emptied, Goldman ponied up offers to recoup losses. According to the journal, Libya would get $5 billion worth of Goldman shares – in return for making a $3.7 billion investment in the securities firm. Libya agreed to buy the bank’s debt, but with a promise of a lucrative annual 6 per cent return for 20 years.
“Goldman knew it was about to head into a nosedive and there they were selling Libyans a piece of junk, which was themselves,” stated Greg Palast, an investigative journalist.
Libyan sovereign-wealth fund officials are reportedly accusing Goldman of misrepresenting investment deals and making trades without proper authorization. But others proudly admit playing fast and loose with Gaddafi’s money. American real estate and reality-show tycoon Donald Trump boasts that he lied to and deceived the Libyan leader in the past.
“I rented him a piece of land. He paid me more for one night than the land was worth for a year or two years, and then I didn't let him use the land. That's what we should be doing. I don't want to use the word 'screwed', but I screwed him,”boasted Donald Trump.
Now, critics say, the Libyan people stand to get screwed by Wall Street as the already are by NATO forces.
“I rented him a piece of land. He paid me more for one night than the land was worth for a year or two years, and then I didn't let him use the land. That's what we should be doing. I don't want to use the word 'screwed', but I screwed him,”boasted Donald Trump.
Now, critics say, the Libyan people stand to get screwed by Wall Street as the already are by NATO forces.
“Trump’s comments were very interesting in terms of the attitude that American executives and American officials have towards other countries. They are there to be screwed and Trump said it publicly, advocating it as a policy and having done it personally,” explained Danny Schechter, a journalist.
Goldman Sachs is currently being investigated for playing a major role in the 2008 financial crisis – a crisis that cost millions of Americans their jobs, homes and life savings. While a military conflict currently divides the US and Libya, uniting citizens of both countries is the financial gain Wall Street has made at their expense.
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