they got used in a illegitimate manner and they're no longer on the balance sheet of m.f. global they're going to have to sue some people and they may have to put some handcuffs on people to get them to return the value of what they took at that point ok now to follow up on the point the m.f. global trustees have said this week that m.f. global did almost record cash movements isn't that outright fraud absolutely and i think it's disingenuous to say that in the last days things were a little chaotic and crazy of course they didn't record things but the difference is did they not record transactions that were legitimate and they're just a little behind on their bookkeeping or do they actually do something that was under the table i believe that you can't have a billion to gone unless they did something that was under the table again with the hope that they could sell the company and be able to put all the money back in time before anyone knew it was missing now francine when i was working on wall street of

compliance officer the guy who is supposed to oversee the day to day margin calls and and balancing of the books he was a guy we bribed routinely to look the other way this is similar to this this is a similar situation basically where the the office to compliance guy was slipped a little a few bucks and presto change and suddenly the phones are vaporizes that's kind of what we're talking about well i think if you watched him testify mr stockman last week before congress you would see that you probably didn't have to pay him off he looked a little oblivious to the whole thing and he admitted more than once that he was either out to lunch out on vacation or just completely out of it not invited to meetings not included in the discussions at a senior level i mean there's a there's a theory or a word for this is called plausible deniability the less people they tell the less people they have to worry about that might. slip up and say the wrong thing and

blow the whole deal i think that the machinations were contained in a very limited group of people perhaps the two or three people at the top and all these other folks that are being dragged through the mud in the operations of the back office some of the names that were dropped at previous hearings those people were just doing their job but i really don't believe that they were part of the criminal or the illegitimate activity that took place i think that they were just there and did what they were told to do ok now who specifically are the owners involved in the m.f. global case and on there any conflicts of interest there the auditors are pricewaterhouse coopers and they have a very long history with some of global because they were the auditors and they still are the auditors of the man of man financial which is the company that spun off. global into a public company in two thousand and seven peter b. c also was the ones that created the original internal control procedures and

sarbanes oxley procedures way back when the company was called refco. piet of u.c. has an enormous number of conflicts with this particular issue and they're not being called to account they haven't yet been called to testify even though the rating agencies have they know where the company stood from a segregated assets perspective at the end to a report period in march at the time when the bonds were issued in august they had to file special reports with a c c they had to file special reports with the c. f.t.c. and those reports are no longer on file at the c.c. or the c f t c so we as a public or the investors of the customers can look and see what did you see say or do about any kind of weakness in controls at any point in time in the immediate future or media past now one name that keeps popping up all the time is j.p. morgan. what was done a role in all of this well interestingly enough peter b. c.

also audits j.p. morgan and you have peter obviously also auditing the law firm that the trustee get is works for. so you have a lot of a vested interest in everybody keeping the noise down and in fact j.p. morgan was the primary banker to m.f. global and j.p. morgan was also the trustee on the bond issue of global had back in august my strong opinion is that no one is willing to say that the money was actually taken or stolen because that means that all of these folks have to acting particular the trustee and they're going to be suing firms like j.p. morgan and peter have you seen like they've done in similar circumstances such as refco or any other bankruptcy new century some of the other bankruptcies that had very strong pointers to these third parties like the banks the investment banks the

law firms in the accounting firms who allowed criminal activity to take place and even look the other way or potentially help them along the way and now reports suggest that j.p. morgan in the bankruptcy was junior to the customers in terms of claims but somehow they've been if you look at the regulations to become senior to the customers and in fact stole money from customers some describe what events that took place is that a fair characterization there is a lot a lot of concern about how the bankruptcy was actually structured that it was a forced bankruptcy by supposed securities investor protection or core corp that put. the wrong people as a priority and that it would have been done as a chapter seven then they would have had the customers put first my personal belief is that this is really sort of peripheral to the fundamental issue if there wasn't

money. missing it really wouldn't matter how the bankruptcy was structured because you wouldn't have to be as concerned about customers. having to eat the loss that's not occurred too often however it has happened before and some of the comments that have been made in certain testimony that oh customer assets have never been taken this is never happened before we never had to deal with it is not necessarily true it's just that these things are settled quietly and they're settled. in ways such that we don't see who were the real culprits but there's plenty of examples of people taking customer assets the sentinel case which is one that's been mentioned quite a bit and there was one about ten years back called griffith trading and nobody talks about that because everything is under seal all right francis mckenna you mentioned rev co a couple of times and of course going back to two thousand and seven the rev situation blew up it was a huge red flag at the time in terms of coming global

financial credit market collapse but nobody did anything at the time but could you give us a little insight into how rev co situation relates to the m.f. global well refco is sort of the genesis of m.f. global refco is the futures firm that became m f global after it was sort of washed through man financial but refco is you alluded to was a big scandal a big fraud a bankruptcy people went to jail people were sued in that litigation is still going on bankers lawyers and accounting firms were sued but they fight it because as soon as you have executives that have actually done something wrong and that have been convicted of it everybody else just claims that they were duped and that's the most common defense and that's the defense that probably the accounting firms lawyers or anybody else that was either standing on the sidelines or help. create documents or

support this effort at m.f. global will probably claim they didn't know or they were fooled or they had something put in front of them that they didn't really understand refco also had something very specific occurred that helped them along it had a bankruptcy examiner the trustee hired a specific attorney to go through and do the investigation here at m.f. global we have a do it yourself investigation this turned into a cluster shmuck between the d.o.j. the c. f.t.c. to some extent the c.m.e. although they've been sort of put on the sidelines and you don't have anybody really with a completely independent or objective view gathering all the facts taking interviews and depositions you have a lot of competing interests and therefore the possibility that somebody is going to keep something under the rug it will never really know the true story given everybody's willingness to defend each other and keep the other out of trouble all

right finally junk or sign of m.f. global he claimed in front of congress that he had no idea where this money went do you believe him. and that statement francine mckenna absolutely not and i think that he was probably instrumental to do the kind of deal they did to try to keep the company alive because i think that that was the goal of course dion ablow and his consider larry ferber to keep the company alive they had to have a go to person or a go to for somebody to help them through this process and those kinds of connections come through long term relationships i suspect that when we find out who benefited from this situation we're going to find somebody very close to course i knew or to the goldman sachs ok love to have you back on that time though thanks so much for being on the kinds report francine mckenna thank you all right that's going to do it for this edition of the kaiser report was made for and stacy herbert

i want my guest francine mckenna if you want to send me an e-mail please do so or kaiser report or t t v dot ru until next time x. has are saying bye go.

the generals refused to step down as the egyptian capital braces itself for a day of massive public protest against military rule exactly a year after the former president was ousted. divisions of the armed wing of the syrian opposition over the planes of responsibility for the deadly bombing at the security service have waters and the country's second largest city. new threat to national security america's growing obesity problem is expanding waistlines and bank towns big businesses harvest big profits from the bad people.

of the russian capital you watching arts. egypt's military rulers say they won't bow to public pressure to step down as a country marks a year since the revolution that toppled president mubarak the supreme council of the armed forces warns of a conspiracy to foster instability in egypt that's thousands of protesters in cairo disagree and are planning a day of civil disobedience on saturday they marched overnight on the defense ministry calling on the generals to hand power over at once to the civilian government has been gripped by protests over the last few months was dozens killed in clashes with security forces and new parliament's been elected and is drawing up a constitution but the military says it won't stand down until the end of june. it looks into why many gyptian are unhappy with the outcome of their revolution.

around a thousand killed at least six thousand injured and even more still missing egypt's people have paid a high price to live in a new country but despite all the sacrifices the shadow of the old regime still lose large during mubarak thirty years of mubarak's rule to meet a number of people try them under military tribunals where one to two thousand now you know within about ten months or eleven months we have twelve thousand which is of course a humongous number for a country ruled by the military the supreme council of the armed forces all scattered that's no surprise but surprisingly enough those discounts took over from who'd previously run the country are not themselves before military tribunals are for. suspected killer. thought. to be simply

a court system. where ordinary people i mean big. medical records this is unfair. and this is illegal hasty with no proper investigation usually with no lawyer and behind closed doors and with no right of appeal human rights activists complain military trials provide no justice and violate human rights you know you have a nineteen year old getting a twenty five year old center year centers because he walks i'm out of cocktails and people who are found guilty of killing somebody by brutally beating him up and torturing him until he died these are getting seven years in jail so i mean it obviously there's something wrong with this picture a lot of these people are trying for absolutely no reason i mean someone just just being in the wrong place at the wrong time is enough to get you in trouble that's exactly what a man says is his case september the time these real. the embassy in cairo the

place. beyond screenplay writer was present at clashes between the army and demonstrators and began helping the injured arrested he was brought to military barracks after summary trial which lasted just twenty minutes he was taken straight to prison to serve almost four months for terrorism he says the military dishes out a very rough justice. in the emerge in a seventy year old who's been in the army for at least thirty years it must be hard for him to take off his uniform and this lifestyle and this was the only way they know how to deal with problems. for several days what did know her son's whereabouts who were the one who says when his sister came to me and said i have to talk to you i knew it was about him hoping for the best i prepared myself for the worst. a month after ahmed was released he now faces yet another trial from the

same incident at these really embassy. they go is to intimidate people the message is clear if you go to to really you'll be arrested and it makes us even stronger how is it they don't understand that matter is no work you know he wants to title you must shut up he explained if people didn't give up after been beaten and humiliated they will never give up until their voices are heard. the citadel in cairo egypt and medieval symbol of power and strength it was fortified centuries ago to protect the region from his enemies at that time crusades and crusaders today egypt's rulers are doing the same striving to defend themselves and to keep power with thousands in jails and dozens killed the concern here is that they may have been working too hard. or if an ocean r.t. cairo over in syria violence is escalating was more than one hundred reportedly

killed on friday political leaders of the uprising say they expect official recognition from some arab league states later this weekend and may have a fighting for the flashpoint city of homs the country's second largest residential area aleppo saw first when car bombings that claim at least twenty five lives responsibility was initially claimed by a senior member of the armed opposition but that was later denied by the free syrian army chief with no u.n. mandate to intervene in the crisis the united states is now said to be gathering a coalition of countries willing to prop up the opposition piled more pressure on the masses but some activists say intervention will be a costly mistake. in syria i think it is a matter of there are some very legitimate interest in the country of people who would like to be able to participate more in their government and i think the government has made some effort to respond they think it needs to make more of an effort but i don't think that comes through foreign intervention it comes through indigenous processes of the people in the country if you look at any foreign

intervention over the last several years you see that after the foreign intervention many more people died then could have possibly died through any type of indigenous process even one involving violence and i think that moscow and some of its allies on this matter are very wise in nj seen the pitfalls of foreign intervention and as a un charter makes it very clear the use of force should only be the last possible means of trying to deal with the conflict that was gorgeous never activist and international human rights lawyer talking to us from geneva. coming your way here on r t this program testing the slopes. russia's major ski resort selection begins its first rehearsal for the winter olympic games by staging a competition for the world's leading winter after its. also extreme hay

nine agility meet the friendly sells art of the extreme sport hardcore has become i don't mind celebrity because of this death defying feat. the greek cabinet has unanimously approved a new set of desperate measures demanded by the e.u. and i.m.f. meanwhile a two day strike in response to the harshest measures continues throughout the country passing the package was crucial to satisfy international creditors to get a second much needed one hundred thirty billion euro package to bolster country's economy the draft bill now has to go through the greek parliament and european finance ministers agreement came after fierce and prolonged kava debate which ended with six ministers quitting their jobs you know while friday anger over the plan spilled over into the streets of athens where police used tear gas and protesters were hurled rocks and firebombs in reply financial journalism at the casino says the action taken by greece's leadership has nothing to do with the people's welfare . the government. the people's best interests it's just doing what's in its own

interests and the people don't trust the government the government had an option they could have just said no we're not going to accept these measures that will go to default and by the way there's no reason that a default has to equal an exit from the euro zone i don't see that that connection other people have made that point and that's used to to intimidate the population to scare them to say well if you don't accept these measures that we're going to default i'm going to be one of the chaos from all the drachma hyperinflation disaster and you know these are scare tactics because the people that are in power ben benefit from a system where they can cooperate with the euro kratz in brussels i don't believe anyone within their right mind would think that they'd be able to to to pay those debts back clear their. an interest for the banks that are on the hook the european central bank has obviously bought a lot of that debt so they stand to lose but at the same time if they just keep rolling it over they're going to lose anyway i think part of this is just a function of the of the system and people just trying to you hear that expression

all the time kick the can count down the road but that's something that people do all the time in their daily lives and they certainly do it in politics they just they don't want to deal with the problem now and they just would rather push it along and i think in many many cases that explains a lot of what you see here. now the ratings agency standard and poor's has more fuel on the fire of european debt by downgrading virtually all of it all these top banks thirty four out of thirty seven is to sions have been hit including massive banks such as you know credit and tesla some power that's another blow after the agency cut it only silver brazing last month by two notches in a mass downgrade of nine eurozone countries standard and poor's explained a move saying well it was economy having into recession the banks may become unable to pay off their wholesale debts. and later in the program here in our financial expert max kaiser gives us his inimitable take on the latest discounts. we just where we want to go.

well max this first headline is the theme of the show ok it's bar alou gold bar we're all terrorists now believe in a return to the gold standard you are now officially in extremis according to the f.b.i. yeah we've got of just where we want you know they're trying to keep the gold price cheap because it makes a mockery of the u.s. dollar so the f.b.i. is saying if you buy gold you're a terrorist thus increasing the panic buying of gold around the world this is just like federal reserve chairman. ben bernanke trying to talk his way into some kind of economic nirvana which is failed miserably now the f.b.i. believe that they're hard to top the economists are going to talk gold down yeah right that's going to happen you idiots you know you would cause more paddick buying i well.

in the us you're busy epidemic is growing was around seventy five percent of americans now considered overweight and as waistlines across the country so do the pockets of big corporations who every year make millions from the fattening of america first lady michelle obama warns that obesity could be the next national security threat was one for adults unable to serve in the military because i will let you he by example keeping herself physic are you going to try and teaching children the importance of healthy eating but he said it costs the u.s. one one billion dollars a year and that looks unlikely to improve as big corporations continue to choose profit over quality list wall reports. we're broke. and we need to stop the out of control spending spree that's growing our washington d.c. as the debate over cutting government spending rages on billions of taxpayer

dollars wasted each year on junk food between one nine hundred ninety five and two thousand and ten over two hundred fifty billion dollars was spent on subsidizing foods that are making americans fat seventy four percent of all the subsidies go to just ten percent of the agribusinesses these are not the small farms public funds go to agra giants like monsanto the company produces genetically modified seeds and claims more than ninety three percent of soybean and eighty percent of the corn market in the u.s. but this is not what americans are consuming the crops are turned into products like high fructose corn syrup which end up in most processed foods the effect on american health is devastating seventy five percent of americans are now overweight and advertisers today target can't the most important part of the mcdonald's back in there is you pay superman this is kryptonite for us. the results are one in five kids in america are obese they like sweets and they like all the additives that are

added to sass foods and sodas and snacks meanwhile corporations are profiting from the fattening of america they spend millions each year lobbying congress to up hold policies that keep the big businesses profitable david rosin calls the system the obesity and duster complex that this system is essentially it's you know it's a pay to play system and if you can pay. to support your local congressman or senator you have a stronger opportunity to both not only influence the laws that are passed but actually draft the was like congress recently declaring pizza a vegetable agribusiness is spend a lot of money on capitol hill and making sure that the funding is going towards things that are going to drive down the products of the most profitable products also cashing in on the. of america pharmaceutical companies the u.s. spends one hundred forty seven billion dollars each year treating obesity related illnesses countries from china to hungary require labeling of g.m.o.

foods but the power of corporations and lobbyists to englewood's politics no such laws exist in the u.s. today and washington liz wall r t remember you can access all of our news and much more about logging on to our website r t dot com here's what's in store for you there right now staying on the safe side germany delays the signing of controversial new anti-piracy loss after protests erupted in europe also online. striking fish expire manik in brussels give local police a cold shower at the main entrance of the prime minister's office i know why at r.t. dot com. sochi welcomes some of the world's best winter athletes as they prepare for its first

skiing competition which kicks off today it's to test the facility ahead of the winter olympics which the russian resort will host in two years' time argues that as bosky reports. so she's been known to have warm february's in the past but not this year blizzards and temperatures well below zero may be great for some winter sports but for downhill skiing you want good visibility and less snow that's already on the ground and not still falling preparing the posts in such conditions was a challenge but the weather is of course a key factor heavy fog and blizzards can hold us up and cause delays but it hasn't affected overall preparations in the resort it is now ready to host the world ski cup and despite bad weather delays were minimal and as the mountain skies cleared domestic competitions began in earnest to put facilities to the test the venues here on the slopes and bridges across napoli on there are undergoing this sternest examination yet ahead of the two thousand and fourteen winter games for both the organizers and the athletes it's

a perfect chance to fly in tune their routines ladies were the first to compete on the slopes for russia's downhill ski cup some compared the experience favorably with the two thousand and ten winter olympics in vancouver and i knew it wasn't going to be live peace here can be compared to what i signed canada except there was ice in vancouver too which made it even more difficult but the overall conditions here are good. alexandra burke came out on the top of the competition she says smaller events like this one offer an important rehearsal before the main event in sochi in two thousand and fourteen. it's a chance to train more and will have the advantage in comparison to other skiers who only come here for the olympics with thirty kilometers of new posts and world class accommodation the organizers hope to make the test competition something get a bowl of spectators and athletes a lawyer but above all this experience is priceless for the salty two thousand and fourteen.