Record $27.5 mn settlement in NY Catholic child sex abuse case

Yahoo – AFP, September 19, 2018

News of the settlement came as several US states, worried by a report in August
detailing decades of sexual abuse involving more than 300 Catholic priests in
 Pennsylvania, are looking into historic abuse cases in their own jurisdictions
(AFP Photo/JEFF SWENSEN)

New York (AFP) - The Catholic church in New York has reached a record $27.5 million settlement with four men who said they were sexually abused as children, attorneys said Tuesday.

The Diocese of Brooklyn, one of the city's boroughs, agreed to make the payments to the four, who were sexually abused between 2003 and 2009 by their religion teacher, their lawyers said.

The sum breaks down to $6.87 million for each of the victims, who were between the ages of eight and 12 at the time.

"This is the largest settlement ever involving individual victims," said attorney Ben Rubinowitz.

"We are glad to see the church finally being brought to justice. It continued for months and in certain cases for years."

Church officials did not immediately comment. But the settlement ends the civil complaint of the four victims, which was to lead to a trial in early 2019, said Rubinowitz.

The complaint was filed in 2012. It came after religion teacher Angelo Serrano -- now 67 years old -- was arrested in 2009 for molesting a child, for which he pleaded guilty in 2011 and was sentenced to fifteen years in prison.

According to Rubinowitz, the diocese agreed to pay after trying to distance itself from Serrano, who was employed by the little parish of St Lucy-St Patrick, but not a priest.

A church priest, also targeted by the complaint, admitted to having seen Serrano one day kiss a child on the mouth, but never addressed the abuse, said another of the lawyers Peter Saghir.

"They decided that, rather than risk a trial, that it was time for them to make a payment."

According to the website BishopAccountability.org, the previous record for an individual compensation was $3.4 million and was paid to the two victims of Matthew Maiello of New York.

News of the settlement came as several US states, worried by a report in August detailing decades of sexual abuse involving more than 300 Catholic priests in Pennsylvania, are looking into historic abuse cases in their own jurisdictions.

The Church was also rocked by the resignation in July of US Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, an influential ex-bishop of Washington.

He was accused of sexually abusing a teenager while working as a priest in New York in the early 1970s.

Danske Bank CEO resigns over money laundering scandal

Yahoo – AFP, September 19, 2018

Danske's shares plunged as the bank's CEO resigned (AFP Photo/Jens
Noergaard Larsen)

Copenhagen (AFP) - The chief executive of Denmark's largest lender Danske Bank announced his resignation Wednesday as the institution said it was unable to determine how much money was laundered through its Estonian branch.

The announcements came days after the Wall Street Journal reported that Danish investigators were probing transactions of up to $150 billion "from companies with ties to Russia and the former Soviet Union" that transited Danske Bank's Estonian branch between 2007 and 2015.

In early August, the state prosecutor's office for serious economic and international crime said the bank was being investigated and prosecutors would decide whether to press charges.

"It is clear that Danske Bank has failed to live up to its responsibility in the case of possible money laundering in Estonia," chief executive Thomas Borgen said in a statement following the conclusion of the bank's internal probe.

"Even though the investigation conducted by the external law firm concludes that I have lived up to my legal obligations, I believe that it is best for all parties that I resign," Borgen said.

The bank said it was "not able to provide an accurate estimate of the amount of suspicious transactions made by non-resident customers in Estonia during the period."

Danske Bank said it would "donate the gross income from the customers in the period from 2007 to 2015, which is estimated at 1.5 billion kroner (201 million euros, $235 million), to an independent foundation which will be set up to support initiatives aimed at combating international financial crime, including money laundering, also in Denmark and Estonia."

That sum will be booked in the third quarter. As a result, the bank revised downwards its earnings outlook for 2018, forecasting a net profit of 16-17 billion kroner instead of the previously anticipated 18 to 20 billion.

Shares in Danske Bank fell by more 3.75 percent in early trading on the Copenhagen stock exchange, in a flat market.

Malaysia ex-PM arrested over $628 mn linked to 1MDB, to be charged

Yahoo – AFP, Sam Reeves, 19 September 2018

Malaysia's former prime minister Najib Razak, seen here in August, is facing
allegations huge sums were looted from state investment fund 1MDB

Malaysia's toppled leader Najib Razak was arrested Wednesday and will be charged over allegations that $628 million linked to state investment fund 1MDB ended up in his personal bank accounts, officials said.

Allegations that Najib and his cronies looted huge sums from the investment vehicle were a major factor in the shock defeat of his long-ruling coalition in elections in May, at the hands of a reformist alliance headed by Mahathir Mohamad.

Mahathir, 93, in his second stint as premier after coming out of retirement to take on his ex-protege Najib, has reopened probes into 1MDB that were shut down by the former government, and vowed to bring Najib to justice.

Since losing power, Najib has already been arrested and hit with seven charges related to claims he pocketed some $10 million from a former unit of 1MDB.

However his arrest Wednesday was more significant as it related to a central allegation in the long-running scandal -- that huge sums from the fund flowed into his bank accounts before a hotly contested election in 2013.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission said in a statement that it had detained Najib as part of its investigations into the fund and "the entry of 2.6 billion ringgit ($628 million) into his personal account".

Najib will appear in court Thursday afternoon where he faces several charges related to abuse of power, the anti-corruption commission said.

James Chin, a Malaysia expert from the University of Tasmania, said Najib's current arrest was "much more significant" than his previous one.

"I think the Malaysian people will be very, very happy. There were complaints that the government was not moving fast enough on 1MDB," he told AFP.

Rotten ruling elite

When reports about the bank transfers surfaced in 2015, they represented a turning point in the 1MDB scandal and dramatically raised pressure on Najib and his inner circle.

The attorney-general later cleared Najib of any wrongdoing, saying the money was a personal donation from the Saudi royal family, and closed down domestic investigations.

But allegations related to wrongdoing at 1MDB continued to multiply and the leader lurched sharply to the right.

He sacked critics in government, jailed political opponents and introduced increasingly authoritarian laws that analysts said were aimed at silencing any criticism to his rule.

Analysts thought Najib's Barisan Nasional coalition, which had ruled Malaysia uninterrupted since independence from Britain in 1957, could never be beaten. But Mahathir capitalised on anger at the 1MDB scandal, and disillusionment at race-based politics in the multi-ethnic country, to push them from power.

Najib, his family and cronies were accused of using money stolen from 1MDB to buy everything from high-end real estate in the United States to pricey artworks. He and his luxury-loving wife Rosman Mansor became figures of hatred.

The US Department of Justice, which is seeking to recover items allegedly bought with stolen 1MDB cash in America, estimates that $4.5 billion in total was looted from the fund.

Following Najib's election loss, police seized a vast trove of items -- including expensive handbags and jewellery -- from properties linked to him with an estimated value of up to $273 million.

Investigations into 1MDB have been moving swiftly. Last month a luxury yacht allegedly bought by a playboy financier with a central role in the scandal was returned to Malaysia after being handed over by Indonesia, which impounded it following a DoJ request.

Malaysia's former prime minister Najib Razak, seen here in August, is facing allegations huge sums were looted from state investment fund 1MDB.

Sex abuse claims rock Dutch Catholic Church

Yahoo – AFP, 15 September 2018

People in Australia, Europe, and North and South America have charged they
were sexually abused by clergymen and lay people

More than half of the Netherlands' senior clerics were involved in covering up sexual assault of children between 1945 and 2010, a press report claimed Saturday, further engulfing the Catholic Church in a global abuse scandal.

Over the course of 65 years, 20 of 39 Dutch cardinals, bishops and their auxiliaries "covered up sexual abuse, allowing the perpetrators to cause many more victims", the daily NRC reported.

"Four abused children and 16 others allowed the transfer of paedophile priests who could have caused new victims in other parishes," the Dutch newspaper added.

Church spokeswoman Daphne van Roosendaal told AFP the church could "confirm a part" of the report.

Other elements were based on anonymous information provided by a victims' assistance unit set up by the church.

"The names of several bishops correspond to those named in a report commissioned by the Church in 2010," the spokeswoman said.

Most of the accused clerics have since died, and the statute of limitations has expired in all cases, she added. Those still alive declined to comment, NRC said.

Meanwhile in France, a priest has been charged with sexually abusing four brothers, now aged from three to 17, his lawyer said Saturday.

The family brought the complaint against the 64-year-old priest, whose parish is in the central Cantal region. All four boys were said to be in the church choir.

The lawyer, Komine Bocoum, did not say when the alleged offences were said to have taken place.

Local bishop Bruno Grua said Saturday the his diocese was "shocked by these unspeakable acts".

They are the latest in a slew of assault allegations against the Catholic Church spanning several continents.

People in Australia, Europe, and North and South America have charged they were sexually abused by clergymen and lay people, in what German Archbishop Georg Gaenswein has called the Church's "own 9/11".

In August, Pope Francis declined to comment on a claim that he ignored sexual abuse allegations against a senior clergyman in the United States.

On Wednesday, the German Catholic Church said it was it was "dismayed and ashamed" by decades of child sex abuse by priests.

Pope Francis meets with leaders from the US church at the Vatican on Thursday

to discuss claims of sexual abuse by clergy (AFP Photo/Handout)

Related Articles:

Pope meets with US church leaders over clergy sex abuse

US cardinals defend themselves over cover-up storm

Pennsylvania report lists more than 300 'predator' priests

US cardinal caught up in abuse scandal resigns

Pope accepts resignation of 3 Chilean bishops in sex abuse scandal

Australian archbishop gets 12 months for concealing child abuse
Germany's Catholic Church 'ashamed' by child sex abuse 

Part of the painting, said to one of the highlights of the Vatican collection

Jesus and Joseph, UK, May 27, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… I gave you a channelling years ago when Pope John Paul was alive. John Paul loved Mary, the mother. Had John Paul survived another 10 years, he would have done what the next Pope [The one after the current one, Benedict XVI] will do, and that is to bring women into the Church. This Pope you have now [Benedict XVI] won't be here long.* The next Pope will be the one who has to change the rules, should he survive. If he doesn't, it will be the one after that.

There it a large struggle within the Church, even right now, and great dissention, for it knows that it is not giving what humanity wants. The doctrine is not current to the puzzles of life. The answer will be to create a better balance between the feminine and masculine, and the new Pope, or the one after that, will try to allow women to be in the higher echelon of the Church structure to assist the priests.

It will be suggested to let women participate in services, doing things women did not do before. This graduates them within church law to an equality with priests, but doesn't actually let them become priests just yet. However, don't be surprised if this begins in another way, and instead gives priests the ability to marry. This will bring the feminine into the church in other ways. It will eventually happen and has to happen. If it does not, it will be the end of the Catholic Church, for humanity will not sustain a spiritual belief system that is out of balance with the love of God and also out of balance with intuitive Human awareness. …”

Women should play a greater role in the training of priests to fight the child abuse 'crisis' that has engulfed the #CatholicChurch, Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet has said https://t.co/UmGvrcnIZI #MarcOuellet

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 16, 2018

Pope meets with US church leaders over clergy sex abuse

Yahoo – AFP, Catherine MARCIANO and Charles ONIANS, September 13, 2018

Pope Francis meets with leaders from the US church at the Vatican on Thursday
to discuss claims of sexual abuse by clergy (AFP Photo/Handout)

Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis met with US bishops and cardinals on Thursday to discuss the Vatican's response to a new wave of devastating claims of sexual abuse by clergy.

The pope met Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, who leads the US Conference of Bishops, and Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston, who advises the pope on sex abuse issues.

DiNardo's deputy Jose Horacio Gomez and general secretary Brian Bransfield also attended the closed-door meeting.

The US Catholic Church has been shaken by the publication of a report on sexual abuse by clergy in Pennsylvania and by the resignation in July of US Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

McCarrick was accused of sexually abusing a teenager while working as a priest in New York in the early 1970s.

The US Bishops' Conference issued a statement after the talks "regarding the recent moral crisis in the American Catholic Church".

The men told the pope how the US Church "is lacerated by the evil of sexual abuse... It was a lengthy, fruitful, and good exchange," the statement said.

"We look forward to actively continuing our discernment together identifying the most effective next steps."

US Cardinal Daniel DiNardo is presenting a new "action plan" to the pope for 

tackling sex abuse by clergy (AFP Photo/GABRIEL BOUYS, GABRIEL BOUYS)

Falling popularity

According to a new poll published by the US news channel CNN on Wednesday, Pope Francis's popularity has nosedived in the United States recently.

The poll showed that only 48 percent of Americans in general supported the Argentinian pontiff, and his popularity has also plummeted among US Catholics to 63 percent from 83 percent 18 months ago.

A former ambassador to the Holy See, Monsignor Carlo Vigano, has even demanded the pope's resignation, accusing him of covering up for McCarrick.

On Thursday, the pope accepted the resignation of US Bishop Michael Bransfield -- a cousin of the Bransfield attending Thursday's Vatican meeting -- and ordered an investigation into allegations he sexually harassed adults, his Baltimore diocese said in a statement.

'Church's own 9/11'

Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, private secretary to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, on Tuesday described sexual abuse against minors by clergy as the Church's "own 9/11".

Cardinal DiNardo said he wanted to present an "action plan" to the pope to facilitate reporting of abuse and misconduct by bishops.

Pope Francis has called a meeting of the heads of bishops' conferences worldwide 

next February to discuss the issue of sexual abuse (AFP Photo/Tiziana FABI)

Referring to the McCarrick case, DiNardo called for a "prompt and thorough examination... into how the grave moral failings of a brother bishop could have been tolerated for so long and proven no impediment to his advancement."

Police on Tuesday arrested a priest in DiNardo's Texas diocese following allegations he abused a male high school student between 1998 and 2001.

A diocesan statement also referred to allegations the priest, Manuel La Rosa-Lopez, abused a 16-year-old girl in 2001.

Her parents "decided not to pursue the matter" and left the country, and the priest was allowed to resume his duties in 2004 after an internal investigation, the statement said.

In the United States, a group of 5,000 Catholic chief executives have frozen $820,000 (700,000 euros) in funds paid annually to the Holy See pending clarification of the sex abuse cases.

While Pope Francis has refused to respond to Vigano's allegations so far, the Vatican said Monday that he was "formulating the eventual and necessary clarifications".

Archbishop of Washington Donald Wuerl has said he plans to travel 

to Rome in the near future to discuss his resignation with Pope

Francis (AFP Photo/MANDEL NGAN)

Cover-up allegations

Among the clergymen targeted by Vigano, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington and formerly a bishop in Pennsylvania, is accused of covering up the sexual abuse in that state.

Wuerl has said he plans to travel to Rome in the near future to meet with Pope Francis to discuss his resignation.

On Wednesday, the pontiff called for a meeting of all the heads of Catholic bishops' conferences worldwide at the Vatican next February to discuss the issue of the "protection of minors".

More cases are coming to light.

The conclusions of a study commissioned by the Church in Germany were leaked to the press on Wednesday.

They included the finding that priests sexually assaulted more than 3,600 children in Germany over nearly seven decades.

Related Articles:

US cardinals defend themselves over cover-up storm

Pennsylvania report lists more than 300 'predator' priests

US cardinal caught up in abuse scandal resigns

Pope accepts resignation of archbishop convicted of abuse cover-up

Australian archbishop gets 12 months for concealing child abuse

Germany's Catholic Church 'ashamed' by child sex abuse 

Part of the painting, said to one of the highlights of the Vatican collection

Jesus and Joseph, UK, May 27, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

Germany's Catholic Church 'ashamed' by child sex abuse

Yahoo – AFP, Hui Min NEO, September 12, 2018

Last year, a world-famous Catholic choir school in Germany, the Regensburger
Domspatzen school, revealed that more than 500 boys there suffered sexual
or physical abuse in what victims have likened to "prison, hell or a concentration
camp" (AFP Photo/Armin Weigel)

Berlin (AFP) - Germany's Catholic Church said Wednesday it was "dismayed and ashamed" by decades of child sex abuse by priests, after a report was leaked showing that thousands of minors were assaulted.

The study, commissioned by the German Bishops' Conference, was due to be presented officially on September 25, but several local media published key conclusions, including the damning finding that more than 3,600 children were sexually assaulted by priests in Germany over nearly seven decades.

Authors of the study also warned that the true scale of the abuse may be greater as some documents were "destroyed or manipulated".

"We know the extent of the sexual abuse that has been demonstrated by the study. We are dismayed and ashamed by it," said Bishop Stephan Ackermann on behalf of the conference.

The aim of the study is to shed light on "this dark side of our Church, for the sake of those affected, but also for us ourselves to see the errors and to do everything to prevent them from being repeated."

"I stress that the study is a measure that we owe not only to the Church but first and foremost, to those affected."

The report deals another blow to the Church after clerical child abuse has been uncovered worldwide.

According to the study, 1,670 clergymen in Germany committed some form of sexual attack against 3,677 minors between 1946 and 2014, Spiegel Online reported. Most of the victims were boys.

More than half were 13 years old or younger at the time of the abuse, the study concluded after examining 38,000 documents from 27 German dioceses.

Impunity

The research also uncovered impunity, with official documents manipulated or simply shredded.

Predator priests were often transferred to another location, but information on their criminal history were not provided to the new site.

Only one in three (566 out of 1,670 accused) were subject to disciplinary hearings by the Church, and most got away with minimal punishment, said Die Zeit weekly, also citing the report.

Of these, 154 cases ended with no penalty, while 103 closed with a warning.

Only 38 percent of the accused were prosecuted by civil courts -- on complaints lodged by victims themselves or their families.

Ackermann meanwhile voiced frustration that the report was leaked to the media before the Church itself had looked at it.

The Church had planned to offer counselling helplines around the official publication date of the report for people who are affected by it, he said.

Over the last decade, several German Catholic institutions have revealed cases of child sexual abuse, including an elite Jesuit school in Berlin which admitted to systematic sexual abuse of pupils by two priests in the 1970s and 1980s.

Last year, a world-famous Catholic choir school in Germany, the Regensburger Domspatzen school, revealed that more than 500 boys there suffered sexual or physical abuse in what victims have likened to "prison, hell or a concentration camp".

Pope Francis has also found himself embroiled in the worldwide sex abuse scandal after conservative US Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano last month claimed the pontiff had personally ignored abuse allegations against prominent US cardinal Theodore McCarrick for five years.

Francis has so far refused to respond to the allegations.

VIDEO: US television giant CBS announces the immediate departure of chief executive Leslie Moonves, one of the biggest scalps in the #MeToo era, following a slew of escalating sexual misconduct allegations

VIDEO: US television giant CBS announces the immediate departure of chief executive Leslie Moonves, one of the biggest scalps in the #MeToo era, following a slew of escalating sexual misconduct allegations pic.twitter.com/fEUtXOUD7G

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 10, 2018

ING lax on money laundering, agrees €775m out-of-court settlement

DutchNews, September 4, 2018

The public prosecution department has reached a €775m out of court settlement with ING for failing to properly monitor money transfers for potential money laundering. 

The department says between 2010 and 2016, the bank’s clients were effectively able to launder hundreds of millions of euros because ING was not doing its job properly. Banks are required by law to report suspicious transactions.

‘The criminal investigation revealed that ING NL was seriously deficient in this respect. As a result, clients were able to use accounts held with ING NL for criminal activities for many years, virtually undisturbed, the public prosecutor said. 

The settlement is made up of a fine of €675m and a repayment of €100m. 

The probe began in 2016 after it emerged several criminal investigations were underway involving private individuals and companies with an ING account. One of the most notorious is the case of telecoms firm VimpelCom which paid millions of euros in bribes to the daughter of the Uzbekistan president via the bank. 

Another case, the public prosecutor said, involved ‘a women’s underwear trader which was able to launder approximately €150m through its bank accounts held with ING NL. ‘It should have been clear to the bank that the monetary flows had little to do with the lingerie trade and were therefore unusual,’ the department said. 

Warnings

The public prosecutor also said the Dutch central bank, which regulates the financial markets, had warned ING about its performance but that not enough improvements were implemented. 

ING said in a statement that it ‘acknowledges serious shortcomings in the execution of customer due diligence policies to prevent financial economic crime’ and that it ‘sincerely regrets that these shortcomings enabled customers to misuse accounts of ING Netherlands’. 

The bank said it had initiated measures against a number of (former) senior employees. This included both withholding bonuses and suspension.

Related Articles:

ING’s financial chief steps down over money laundering scandal - New

2008 financial crisis: the collapse of Lehman Brothers

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once),Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

2008 financial crisis: the collapse of Lehman Brothers

Yahoo – AFP, September 2, 2018

Lehman Brothers' headquarters in New York on September 15, 2008, the day
the Wall Street titan fell (AFP Photo/NICHOLAS ROBERTS)

Paris (AFP) - Once a titan of world finance, investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed 10 years ago, triggering the worst crisis in global finance since the Great Depression.

Here is a look back at the 18 months that led up to Lehman's dramatic declaration of bankruptcy on September 15, 2008.

- Early 2007: subprimes backfire -

In February, several US banks specialized in subprime mortgages -- which are risky but classified as safe investments by credit ratings agencies -- go bankrupt.

These loans with variable interest rates given to households with fragile finances backfire on lenders when millions of borrowers are unable to make monthly payments that climb with rising interest rates.

When these subprime lenders go bankrupt, some analysts talk about the "risk" to financial markets, but most are optimistic, judging the sector will have a minimal impact on the US economy.

- Summer 2007: banks, markets hit -

In June, the investment bank Bear Stearns announces its hedge funds involved in subprime loans are in trouble. It is the first major bank to be subjected to damages in the crisis.

Turmoil intensifies in July and August and world markets are shaken when banks such as BNP Paribas in France reveal their own investments in high-risk loans.

The internal banking market is hit -- banks hesitate to make loans to each other-- while several central banks intervene, injecting billions of liquidity into the financial system.

End 2007: Lehman's confident

While the major world banks (UBS, Citigroup) suffer due to the subprime crisis, Lehman Brothers publish record annual results in December 2007, with a net profit of $4.2 billion.

The New York investment bank makes no mention of a new depreciation nor any provision to clean up the consequences of the subprime crisis, instead praising itself for its ability to operate above the cycles of the market, thanks to its diversification.

But between August 2007 and January 2008, Lehman's eliminates 3,000 mortgage-related jobs.

Early 2008: widespread panic

On January 22, 2008, faced with plunging world markets, the US Federal Reserve slashes interest rates by 3.5 percent, an exceptional measure, followed by a new cut by a half percentage point a week later.

The next month in the UK, the government steps in to nationalize Northern Rock, the fifth-largest bank in the country but now in crisis.

In March, JP Morgan Chase buys Bear Stearns for next to nothing, and 15 times less than its market capitalization, in a bid to avoid escalating collapse. The market predicts Lehman Brothers, which eliminates another 1,400 jobs at the start of the month, could be the next bank to fall.

- Summer 2008: titan no more -

On June 2, the credit rating agency S&P cuts its rating for Lehman Brothers to "A" from its previous "A-plus."

A week later, Lehman Brothers announces an anticipated quarterly loss of $2.8 billion, its first since the bank appeared on the stock market in 1994.

It seeks any way to raise liquidity, notably in looking for potential partners. Hopes are raised with Korea Development Bank, but on September 10, the South Korean bank announces an end to talks.

The same day, Lehman Brothers publishes catastrophic results.

The US Treasury fails to organize a buyout by investors and chooses not to bail Lehman Brothers out, leaving it to declare bankruptcy on September 15.

Related Article:

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once),Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”