Riddle of $1.3 Billion for Iran

[lostinblue 1,989]

Congressional investigators trying to uncover the trail of $1.3 billion in payments to Iran might want to focus on 13 large, identical sums that Treasury paid to the State Department under the generic heading of settling “Foreign Claims.”

The 13 payments when added to the $400 million that the administration now concedes it shipped to the Iranian regime in foreign cash would bring the payout to the $1.7 billion that President Obama and Secretary Kerry announced on January 17. That total was to settle a dispute pending for decades before the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal in at The Hague.

Mr. Kerry told the press at the time that the settlement included $400 million that Iran under the Shah had paid into a U.S. trust fund for an arms deal that collapsed after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution. Plus, said Kerry, the U.S. had agreed to pay “a roughly $1.3 billion compromise on the interest.”

The Wall Street Journal’s Jay Solomon and Carole E. Lee broke earlier this month the news that on the same day that Mr. Obama announced the settlement, his administration secretly sent Iran the $400 million payment in cash. Last week, the State Department finally confirmed that the January 17 cash shipment was used as “leverage” to ensure Iran’s release that same day of four American prisoners — fueling questions about whether the Obama administration, despite its denials, had paid ransom.

The 13 payments that may explain what happened are found in an online database maintained by the Judgment Fund. A search for “Iran” since the beginning of this year turns up nothing. But a search for claims in which the defendant is the State Department turns up 13 payments for $99,999,999.99.

http://www.nysun.com/foreign/riddle-of-13-billion-for-iran-might-be-solved-by/89692/

[lostinblue 1,989]

06:05] “and the only bit of news that is relevant on this, is the fact that we paid cash. Which brings me to my last point.

The reason that we had to give them cash is precisely because we are so strict in maintaining sanctions, and we do not have a banking relationship with Iran, that we couldn’t send them a check; and we could not wire the money.

And it is not at all clear to me why it is that cash, as opposed to a check or a wire transfer has made this into a news story”.

two days later, January 19th 2016, the U.S. Treasury wired Iran 13 individual payments for $99,999,999.99 , each with an independent MICR, totaling $1,299,999,999.87.

The Kenyan lies and the media covers it up ....

[John Miller 761]

06:05] “and the only bit of news that is relevant on this, is the fact that we paid cash. Which brings me to my last point.

The reason that we had to give them cash is precisely because we are so strict in maintaining sanctions, and we do not have a banking relationship with Iran, that we couldn’t send them a check; and we could not wire the money.

And it is not at all clear to me why it is that cash, as opposed to a check or a wire transfer has made this into a news story”.

two days later, January 19th 2016, the U.S. Treasury wired Iran 13 individual payments for $99,999,999.99 , each with an independent MICR, totaling $1,299,999,999.87.

The Kenyan lies and the media covers it up ....

Treasury wired the funds to Iran? Where exactly did you get that information? The article certanly doesn't make that claim. It expressively left open how funds were paid to wherever they were paid- Lert us be clear that there's no certainty that these funds actually went to Iran. That's an assumption that is being made - it's certainly plausible but it's an assumption nonetheless. As to the mans of the fund transfer to the final destination, you find this:

It does say, as a general matter, that “Defendant Agency Name is the same as the Responsible Agency Name.” It leaves open the question of whether it was State rather than Treasury that determined by what route and in what form the funds would reach their final destination.

[lostinblue 1,989]

Treasury wired the funds to Iran? Where exactly did you get that information? The article certanly doesn't make that claim. It expressively left open how funds were paid to wherever they were paid- Lert us be clear that there's no certainty that these funds actually went to Iran. That's an assumption that is being made - it's certainly plausible but it's an assumption nonetheless. As to the mans of the fund transfer to the final destination, you find this:

So they flew in the rest of the 1.3 billion in cash also ?

[lostinblue 1,989]

[lostinblue 1,989]

_{[–]G_PetroniusITL[S] 166 points167 points168 points}

_{17 hours ago}

_{(25 children)}

_{You can verify the payment data yourself here: https://jfund.fms.treas.gov/jfradSearchWeb/JFPymtSearchAction.do}

_{Thanks to /u/thirsty_deer we know why they structured the payments like that:}

"The Judgment Fund is the mechanism Congress established to pay most settlements and judgments against the federal government. The Fund, originally created in 1956 and limited then to paying judgments of $100,000 or less"....

"Congress expected that ninety-eight percent of judgments would fall within that limit."

[The Judgment Fund] is “a permanent, indefinite appropriation for the satisfaction of judgments, awards, and compromise settlements against the United States.” The Judgment Fund is available only under specific circumstances, but when available it makes payments without any review by Congress. The government uses it to pay out billions of dollars every year, yet there is no practical way for Congress or the public to track where Judgment Fund money goes.

The Constitution [states] in Clause 7 of Article I, Section 9: “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law....”

[in the 2008 Farm Bill,] Congress set the maximum amount to be paid under the new statute, and appropriated for that purpose, $100,000,000.

_{Dividing a financial transaction into smaller chunks to avoid going over a legal limit is called structuring and in the financial world it's a FELONY. The Obama administration did the exact same thing because apparently it didn't have any legal way to pay its ransom money to Iran.}

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_{https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comments/4zep0m/massive_fraud_to_skirt_a_limit_set_in_a_2008_law/?}

[John Miller 761]

So they flew in the rest of the 1.3 billion in cash also ?

I don't know. I don't even know where the money went. Neither do you. You made a specific claim as to how the money when where but you actually do not know whether you had the means of the destination correct, All you have is just speculation, assumptions and innuendo - the usual.

[John Miller 761]

The Obama administration did the exact same thing because apparently it didn't have any legal way to pay its ransom money to Iran.

More innuendo and still no facts. And just to clear up the "ransom" BS: Iran was or is owed 1.7 billion dollars. There's a judgement to that effect. Paying that money to Iran is not paying a ransom. It is money that already belongs to Iran.

[TBoneTX 43,432]

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[Teddy B 17,251]

[Rob L 3,811]

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