Banker's deaths

[Peter Lemkin]

In the final week of January 2014 two current executives and one retired top level executive of major financial firms were found dead. Both media and police quickly tagged the deaths as likely suicides. Missing from the reports is the striking fact that all three of the financial firms that the executives worked for are under investigation for possibly momentous financial fraud.
The deaths began on Sunday, January 26. London police reported that William Broeksmit, a top executive at Deutsche Bank who retired in 2013, was found hanged at his residence in South London. The next day, Eric Ben-Artzi, a former risk analyst turned whistleblower at Deutsche Bank, was scheduled to speak at Auburn University in Alabama on his assertions that Deutsche had hid $12 billion in losses during the financial crisis with the knowledge of senior executives. Two other whistleblowers at Deutsche brought similar charges.
Deutsche Bank is also under investigation by global regulators for rigging foreign exchange markets. In 2013 Deutsche settled charges of rigging the Libor interest rate.
Two days after Broeksmit's death, 39-year old Gabriel Magee, a Vice President at JPMorgan in London, fell from the roof of the bank's 33-story European headquarters. Magee was involved in "Technical architecture oversight for planning, development, and operation of systems for fixed income securities and interest rate derivatives."
JPMorgan is under the same global investigation for potentially manipulating foreign exchange rates. The firm is also apparently under an investigation by the U.S. Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations for its involvement in potential misconduct in physical commodities markets.
One day after Magee's death, on Wednesday, January 29, 2014, 50-year old Michael Dueker, Chief Economist at Russell Investments, reportedly died from a 50-foot fall from a highway ramp down an embankment in Washington state.
Sources:
Pam Martens, "A Rash of Deaths and a Missing ReporterWith Ties to Wall Street Investigations," Wall Street on Parade, February 4, 2014, http://wallstreetonparade.com/2014/02/a-...tigations/.
Pam Martens, "Suspicious Death of JPMorgan Vice President, Gabriel Magee, Under Investigation in London," Wall Street on Parade, February 9, 2014, http://wallstreetonparade.com/2014/02/su...in-london/.
Pam Martens, "JPMorgan Vice President's Death in London Shines a Light on the Bank's Close Ties to the CIA," Wall Street on Parade, February 12, 2014, http://wallstreetonparade.com/2014/02/jpmorgan-vice-president's-death-in-london-shines-a-light-on-the-bank's-close-ties-to-the-cia/.
Student Researcher: Alexandra J. Johnson (Florida Atlantic University)
Faculty Evaluator: James F. Tracy (Florida Atlantic University)
http://www.projectcensored.org/mysteriou...c08f6be29b

While some of these men could have committed suicide to avoid their involvement in scandalous and illegal financial dealings, or even one or two for personal reasons, I think it much more likely they were 'pushed'. it is a rare event that underlings in financial institutions are responsible for the crimes of the bank/financial organization - much more likely their bosses at the top will take the 'fall' - unless unwanted witnesses are eliminated. Sadly, the police and investigative bodies seem to be ignoring [likely on purpose] these events - both individually and collectively. One hears almost nothing from the families or colleagues - if these men were tense and upset, or fearful, etc. The assumption that dead people commit suicide almost all the time, rather than are murdered in a way that mimics suicide, sadly, is par for the course. No doubt, it is not lost on the others at their level to keep what they know a secret...or you just might slip from a high place. Business as usual.

My instinct also is that these are not suicides but more likely to be part of an active international cover-up. But if that is the case it begs the question who is doing the covering up?

And in view of the myriad market fixing that we now know about, what does this tell us of the banking sector in general? Has crookedness become a "necessary evil" in order to survive - if not prosper?

Dave, the only word I found slightly 'out of place' was the word 'become'.....I view crookedness in banking as long the 'gold-standard' mode of conduct...perhaps it is only slightly more so at this time (as was the during the age of the robber-barons, during the big financial 'crashes', and in the midst of [or fomenting] wars). As we have discussed before, the uber-rich seem to realize the end is near and are all cashing in their 'chips' or making quick last-minute robberies of the Planet.