Missing the Point about "Silverado" Neil Bush

[Kid Berwyn]

Last edited Thu Dec 5, 2024, 04:05 PM - Edit history (1)

I got a problem with Fox leading the national news media in a lynch mob pouncing on Charles Pierce and Esquire magazine.

Pierce’s article stated that President George Herbert Walker Bush, Poppy to his childhood friends, pardoned his son, Neil Bush, over the billion-dollar fraud Neil oversaw while "serving" on the board of Silverado Savings & Loan in Colorado in the late 1980s. Here the Denver Post details the history.

True, Poppy did not grant an official pardon. However, instead of reporting the truth, let alone the whole story, about Neil Bush and his billion-dollar fraud and resorted crimes, the news media focus their fierce attention on Esquire’s mistaken use of the word “pardon.” The magazine has since dropped the story and issued a retraction on their error.



Great. The reality is Neil Bush got something better than a pardon.

Neil Bush's father, then POTUS, saw that he was never prosecuted for actions that would get people who weren’t named Bush in the slammer for an extended stretch. Overseeing the matter was Poppy’s Attorney General, William Barr, the young version seen in the photo above with quasi-vegetable yet-still President Ronald Reagan. Coincidentally, we must remember Barr is the same AG who would help cover up the Russia ties for one pee-resident Donald J Trump by pre-misinterpreting what the Mueller Report said. Here's an excellent article on how Poppy communicated when he needed to get things done:

How the Elite Talk in Code

by Robert Wenzel
Economic Policy Journal, July 15, 2009

A perfect example of code talk comes from a true master insider, George H.W. Bush, when his son, Neil, was caught red handed in the middle of the S&L crisis as a director of Sliverado Bank.

Did Bush lay out his cards and call in his operatives and say pull some strings, get my son out of this investigation (Remember Bush was president at the time.) No. Bush is too smooth. In his published collection of letters, All The Best, George Bush, he shows us how the heat is delicately taken off Neil. On page 449, there is this letter to Thomas Ludlow Ashley.

Ashley is a Yale University grad, and member of the secret society Skull and Bones along with Bush. Here's the letter:

The Honorable Thomas Ludlow Ashley
Association of Bank Holding Companies
Washington, D.C. 20005

Dear Lud,

Thank you for your good memo December 8th.

I would appreciate any help you can give Neil. He tells me he never had any insider dealings. He got off the Board early--long before I was elected President. The Denver paper apparently ran a very nice editorial about him on that. He is an outside director, and thus I guess has liability, but I can't believe his name would appear in the paper if it was Jones not Bush. In any event, I know that the guy is totally honest. I saw him in Denver and I think he is worried about the publicity and the "shame". I tell him not to worry about that but any advice you can give as this matter unfolds would be greatly appreciated by me. If it turns out there has been some marginal call, or he has done something wrong, needless to say there will be no intervention from his dad. But, I'm quite confident this is not true...

Warm regards,

George

Notice how smooth. No talk about getting Ashley anything for taking care of the matter. The nice touch about if Neil "has done something wrong", but the clear finish, he didn't.

Continues...

https://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2009/07/how-elite-talk-in-code.html

So, Pierce wrote the truth about Neil Bush, son of then-President George HW “Poppy” Bush, who seems to have ordered his Attorney General, one Bill Barr, to overlook any criminal charges. It’s really a matter of semantics: George HW Bush and his Justice Department let Neil Bush and his S&L co-conspirators skate.

Small world. And the nation’s mass media act like it never happened when covering President Joe Biden and the pardon granted his son, Hunter Biden. Instead, the news media emphasized their gussied-up outrage over a pardon over the reality of how Neil Bush was forgiven over a billion-dollar fleecing of the US taxpayers. That little difference over the word "pardon" is telling and depressing.

[UpInArms]

1. The news about Silverado savings broke on August 1 ...

I always thought that the initial invasion of Iraq was to crowd that off the front pages

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/bush-orders-operation-desert-shield

AUGUST | 7 1990

On August 7, 1990, President George Herbert Walker Bush orders the organization of Operation Desert Shield in response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait on August 2. The order prepared American troops to become part of an international coalition in the war against Iraq that would be launched as Operation Desert Storm in January 1991. To support Operation Desert Shield, Bush authorized a dramatic increase in U.S. troops and resources in the Persian Gulf.

….

https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19900801/1085550/the-savings-and-loan-scandal----neil-bush-stands-in-shattered-ruins-of-denver-thrift

Aug 1, 1990

Five years later, Bush stands amid the wreckage of reputations and fortunes from one of the 10 biggest thrift failures in the country, battling efforts to transform him into a symbol of the entire savings-and-loan scandal. He faces administrative charges that he violated banking regulations in the way he handled Silverado's transactions with his business partners. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) yesterday said it will decide within the next two months whether to file suit against him and other directors to recover some of the estimated $1 billion cost of liquidating Silverado.

Even if Bush wins his case with the regulators - as he insists he will - the consequences of his Silverado days are still steep: a political embarrassment for President Bush and the Republican Party, a cloud of uncertainty over whatever political future he himself might have had, a year of his life lost to the controversy.

[Kid Berwyn]

3. Poppy, like son Smirko, lied America into war on Iraq

Thank yo for the kind reminder, UpInArms. The Iraq War sure as shooting knocked Silverado and the S&Ls off the front pages. And the run-up to the First Gulf War needed all manner of Big Lies to succeed in influencing the American people into supporting an illegal, unnecessary and ultimately disastrous war on a country that had done nothing to hurt the U.S.A.



Remember April Glaspie, our acting ambassador, said to Saddam (paraphrase from memory): "We have no position on Arab-Arab border disputes." Not her fault Saddam was so stupid to think that was a green light to invade. Later, when Saddam offered to withdraw, James Baker said, "Too late. We're gonna have a war."

https://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3853409



Of course, before that, Pruneface Ron sent special envoy Donald Rumsfeld to make nice with Saddam, show the Butcher of Baghdad he was our friend in the fight with Iran, whom we also were helping at the time, apparently payback for that favor involving all the hostages before the election in 1980. Poppy even fixed things so the USDA paid Iraq billions of dollars in agricultural credits to free up some dough for Iraqi arms purchases.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6647915



Then, when Poppy Bush couldn't drum up enough support to go to war over Iraq's invasion of the Kuwait oil patch, he lied to the American people. Praise the ammunition and pass the Hill & Knowlton.

This history is disappearing from the GOOGLE nowadays. For details: https://www.prwatch.org/node/25/print

[UpInArms]

5. I was working in the s&l cleanup

I have several hundred stories that maybe someday I will write

[Kid Berwyn]

7. Please let DU know when you do. I, too, have firsthand experience in the S&L debacle...

In all sincerity: I know it would be most informative and I would be most appreciative.

Know your BFEE: They Looted Your Nation’s S&Ls for Power and Profit

https://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2922138



"Nyaah. See?"

[Hotler]

2. Thank you. Didn't Kenneth Good write a couple of Make Money Off Real estate type books?

I grew up in Englewood, Colorado and there was a gated community (Cherry Hills) around the corner and you could Ken Good's house above the wall as we drove by. A lot of questionable money passing through Denver around that time. I think a lot of little people got fucked over. Of course DIA was on the up and up.

[Kid Berwyn]

4. The guy is swell, helping Neil look for oil.

How Neil Bush Got Into Trouble

by Paul West
Baltimore Sun, September 23, 1990

DENVER - What's in a name? Fate, perhaps, if the name is Neil Mallon Bush.

SNIP...

At the time, the fast-buck atmosphere in the Rocky Mountain capital, fueled by high petroleum prices, must have seemed like an updated version of Midland, Texas, the boom town that lured his father three decades earlier.

``Denver was a go-go town. It was booming. The economy was going to go on forever. Oil was going to go to $100 (a barrel). Things were really flying,'' recalled Mike Asher, a 38-year-old oilman who came to town about that time. Neil and his wife, Sharon, joined the boards of civic organizations, including the Boys Club, the opera and the Children's Museum, in much the same way that George and Barbara Bush had dedicated themselves to the YMCA, local theater and other good works in Midland.

In 1983, Neil left Amoco and started his own oil company, JNB Exploration. At the time, the boom had started to go bust and money was no longer so easy to find, recalled former partner Evans Nash Jr.

``We were selling deals when a lot of people didn't get anything sold,'' he said in an interview. ``Because Neil was who he was, he had inroads into companies, in part because he was the son of the vice president.'' Like his father, Neil raised money from out-of-state investors, in Texas, New York and Florida, Nash recalled.

Neil Bush, then 26, invested only $100 in his own company, but others put up much more. Among them were two prominent local developers: Bill L. Walters, whom Neil met in Republican circles, according to Nash, put up $150,000 and received an ownership share of JNB; and Kenneth M. Good put up $10,000 and arranged for JNB to get a $1.7 million line of credit at a bank he controlled.

It was Good who made a $100,000 investment in 1984 for Neil that the president's son did not have to repay. Bush, who delayed reporting the loan to the Internal Revenue Service until 1990, has conceded that this ``incredibly sweet deal'' looks ``a little fishy'' but insists that there was nothing improper about it.

CONTINUED...

https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19900923/1094674/how-neil-bush-got-into-trouble

[UpInArms]

6. Remember Harken?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harken_Energy_scandal

The Harken Energy Scandal refers to a series of transactions entered into during 1990 involving Harken Energy. These transactions are alleged to involve either issues relating to insider trading, or influence peddling. Although no wrongdoings were found by any investigating authorities, the matter generated political controversy.

Spectrum 7 purchase
George W. Bush ran an energy company called Spectrum 7 during the 1980s. In the mid-1980s the oil market was in a slump, with prices dropping daily. The firm was in financial trouble until another company, a distressed oil properties specialist, Harken Energy, purchased Spectrum 7 in 1986. Part of the attraction for Harken's management to purchase Spectrum 7 was having Bush on its board — his father was then vice-president, he had extensive political connections and knowledge of the oil and gas business. Harken Energy offered Bush a seat on its board of directors along with stock worth about $500,000 at the time.[1] Bush received a consulting contract worth between $80,000 and $120,000 annually as well.

The Job
In 1987 and 1988, George W. Bush dedicated himself (and much of his efforts) to the presidential campaign of his father George H. W. Bush. Fortunes turned for Bush, and the following year he invested in the Texas Rangers baseball team. To help pay for this investment, he borrowed a sum of $600,000; to pay off the loan, he sold his stock in Harken Energy. That investment paid off handsomely for him, not only monetarily.[1] As team owner, the popularity derived from his public persona lead to the invitation to run for governor of Texas and ultimately, two terms as president.[2]

Bush's stock sale and its consequences for Harken Energy
George W. Bush sold 212,140 shares of Harken Energy at $4 a share on June 22, 1990, for a grand total of $848,560. Two months later, on August 20, Harken announced a larger than expected loss for the previous quarter. Surprisingly, the price of the company's stock shares barely declined at first, following these two negative, or "bearish", events. In the ensuing months, Harken's stock price did drift downward to $1.25 per share by the end of the year. However, the stock price then recovered its value and more the following year, which was strange behavior for the stock. The sale of the large block of shares had become widely publicized and allegations of the use of insider information, and improper stock transactions, were leveled at Bush.[3]

[Kid Berwyn]

8. Oh, yeah. So does DU...

From seemslikeadream 2009:

Follow the Money: The Bush-bin Laden Connection

President Bush's September 2001 address to the American people will live on in infamy. In it, Bush roused the American people to a "war on terrorism," which was to consist of rooting out the financial sources of support for terrorist activities. A global effort ensued in the following weeks. Bush then signed an executive order freezing the financial assets of several alleged charities reputed to be "fronts" for the al-Qaida network. According to a report by Christopher Byron dated 9/24/01 entitled "Terrorists, dollars and a tangled web", however, one glitch got ahead of Bush's fanaticism: following this money trail would require investigators to "probe deep into the offshore activities of America's mightiest banks and the financial affairs of many of America's leading public figures," including George W. and George H.W. Bush. It all starts with the Bank for Credit & Commerce International, now infamous as the "BCCI Scandal." The BCCI, with its main offices in London and New York, was bankrolled by Saudi Arabian money handlers. The BCCI was engaged in widespread bribery of officials in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas; its criminal activities touched nearly every country on Earth. According to Byron, the BCCI "laundered money on a global scale, intimidated witnesses and law enforcement authorities, engaged in extortion and blackmail; supplied the financing for illegal arms trafficking and global terrorism; financed and facilitated income tax evasion, smuggling and prostitution." As Byron also explains, BCCI operated via secrecy through various front organizations, and "penetrated the top-most echelons of American business, co-opting and exploiting many of the most visible and influential public figures in America."

The tentacles of BCCI began to touch George W. Bush when he sold his young, struggling oil company to Harken Energy. This, according to Byron, "set in motion a chain of events that wound up entangling Bush, briefly but awkwardly, in the affairs of not just BCCI but of the bin Laden family itself." Specifically, what is the bin Laden connection?

James Bath, one of Bush's original partners in his oil company, had contacts in the Middle East. According to Byron, Bath was named in a 1976 trust document as the business representative for Salem bin Laden, Osama bin Laden's half-brother, who was killed in a private plane crash in Texas in 1988. William White has claimed that Bath was involved in a secret conspiracy to funnel Saudi money into the U.S., and that since 1976-the year Bush Sr. became head of the CIA-Bath had worked as a CIA liaison to Saudi Arabia. White has made the claim, which Bath denies, that "Bath ran an aviation business and obtained several aircraft from the CIA."

As Byron reports, Bath did run Skyway Aircraft Leasing Ltd., an aviation business based in the Cayman Islands, which was owned by Saudi banker Khalid bin Mahfouz. In 1977, bin Mahfouz joined up with Saudi front man for BCCI, Ghaith Pharaon, and became an investor in the Main Bank of Houston, in which Bath also held a stake.

CONTINUED...

James R Bath connects Bush, bin Laden, Petrodollars, BCCI & BFEE.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5446102

[UpInArms]

9. I sued the city of okc in 1984

For drilling outside the U7 zone …

I was countersued by approximately 15 oil companies, harken being one of them … the biggest one was Tenneco

Edited to add …

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/175064.The_Outlaw_Bank

The best reading material about the BCCI (bank of crooks and criminals)

[hardluck]

10. That would have been a good story if he had wrote it

Unfortunately, he did not. Instead, he wrote that Neil Bush was pardoned which not only was factually incorrect, but was easily factchecked by going to the DOJ website. It would have taken him 2 minutes to check. And where was his editor? It's just embarrassing for both Pierce for writing that piece and Esquire for publishing it.

[Kid Berwyn]

11. GHWBush DoJ did not prosecute Neil Bush's billion dollar fraud.

Which is a lot better for a billion dollar thief than a pardon.

—— —— —— ——

Neil Bush, others settle Silverado lawsuit for $49.5 million

By HENRY DAVID ROSSO
UPI

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's son Neil and 10 other former officials of the defunct Silverado Banking, Savings and Loan have tentatively agreed to pay nearly $50 million to settle a lawsuit stemming from the thrift's 1988 failure, an official said Thursday.

Alan Whitney, a spokesman for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which had sued Silverado, said the settlement calls for the defendants to pay the FDIC $26.5 million. Additionally, he said, the FDIC will take over the $23 million Silverado Indemnity Fund. The $49.5 million total is less than a quarter of the $200 million in damages the FDIC had sought in its lawsuit, filed last fall.

Snip…

The government's suit was filed in Denver last September just days before Neil Bush was to appear before an administrative law judge to defend himself against charges he violated conflict-of-interest laws while serving as Silverado director.

The FDIC claimed the former officers and directors of Silverado breached their fiduciary duty and were grossly negligent in their duties. Douglas Jones, the FDIC's senior deputy general counsel, said at the time, 'Our conclusion is that Silverado was the victim of sophisticated schemes and abuses by insiders and of gross negligence by its directors and outside professionals.'

The suit alleged that former Silverado officers made improper loans and investments that were approved by the directors.

Continues…

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/05/30/Neil-Bush-others-settle-Silverado-lawsuit-for-495-million/2631675576000/

[Johonny]

12. Barr also helped pardon the Iran Contra people

For poppy Bush.

[Kid Berwyn]

13. Barr weaponized DoJ for the GOP

Barr's history is swept under the rug by Corporate McPravda. Thank goodness for print journalism:

https://www.villagevoice.com/2019/04/18/attorney-general-william-barr-is-the-best-reason-to-vote-for-clinton/

Later, he got Poppy to pardon Weinberger and the rest of the Iran Contra traitors.

https://www.salon.com/2019/01/20/bill-barr-cover-up-artist_partner/

It seems that Lord Barr was groomed as a more proactive and robust, if not more intelligent, Ed Meese.