With a long checkered history of public scandal, what truths lie within the docket against ‘one of the largest full service banks in the world’ Citibank?
Sifting through a dossier of court recorded documents, LIM Associate Publisher and Cofounder, Elyahou Lallouz ever-so gently unveils information with regard to the alleged ‘Conspiracy Theory’ and decade-long $250M lawsuit of ‘Pedraglio versus Citibank’.
Claiming to be the ‘scapegoat’ for having stumbled onto the financial sins of then Citibank executives, Pedraglio’s ‘stateof-ruin’ has been much of the spirited driving force that has kept him running on full throttle — his Global Positioning System programmed for a journey of ‘truth and justice’.
LIM Exclusive Interview with Elyahou Lallouz:
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: The documents that you have in hand, how did you obtain them?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: After I was arrested, the gathering company (my client) sent them to me by post.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: Did you work in the office of this company?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: No, they had no office in Spain. I worked out of the lobby of a Spanish hotel, and also out of my office. I worked alone.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: How did you meet these clients?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: Back in 1983, the company executive happened to be my client. I operated a maintenance company and worked on his boat.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: What kind of company did he have?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: I don’t know. I didn’t work for his company. I worked for him strictly as an independent interpreter.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: Did you study to become an interpreter?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: Yes, at the Sampere Institute in Madrid where I was preparing to take an exam with Foreign Affairs to achieve a diploma.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: As you were receiving these documents to interpret, what crossed your mind?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: I didn’t receive any documents. I was instructed to translate various notations into proper English.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: What kind of notations were they?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: They seemed to be a type of negotiation between my client and Citibank.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: What kind of negotiations did you detect?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: I detected that Citibank wanted to buy classified documents relating to some internal financial problems.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: Did you ever speak to your client about this? Did he ever tell you what he was doing?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: Yes, Citibank wanted to buy a list of the most disloyal employees within their system, from him.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: Do you know how he obtained that list?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: No.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: The police searched your house for documents. Do you have these documents?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: No. At that stage, I had no documents. They came afterwards, sent by post.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: Sent by whom?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: From Fabian (Carvajal), by post.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: Why did he send these documents?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: So that I could have a proper understanding of what was happening.
When I spoke to him on the phone and asked him about the situation, he said that the documents would explain everything.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: What did you do with these documents?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: Put them in the hands of my lawyer.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: Have you ever been contacted, or received any messages from any Secret Service, high Officials or authorities from the UK or US asking you to hand over these documents?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: No.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: Have you ever contacted anyone from Citibank to explain the injustice you suffered, or to try and settle this dilemma in a congenial manner?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: Yes. I sent a certified letter from the American Consulate in Spain to the President of Citibank New York, John Reed.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: Did he ever respond?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: No, he never did.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: Do you feel that Citibank is afraid of you?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: Not Citibank. But top corrupt executives and politicians should be. Not of me, but of justice.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: Seeing that you’ve been dealing with very sensitive documents, do you have any evidence of phone tapping or email interception?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: I can tell you that strange things have happened with my email. My computer showed that the emails I was sending were ‘sent’. But the other person never received them.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: Did you have this problem investigated professionally?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: Yes, I did with a professional Dutch technician.
He found it very unusual, and couldn’t give any reasonable technical answer. He even sent himself an email and never received it. That could not be explained.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: Do you have any proof that the British Embassy was involved in helping Citibank conceal this scenario? MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: Yes. The documents are registered in US court.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: Do you fear for your life?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: No, I believe in God.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: After you received the documents from your client, what happened to him?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: I don’t know. I refused his help. After all, he got me into this problem. So, I decided to trust my own lawyer.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: What are your feelings about this case?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: This is a very unusual case in which a normal person gets involved in a huge conspiracy… run by Citibank, with the help of the British Embassy and US authorities.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: How were the police involved?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: One day the police arrested me outside of my house ‘illegally’, which is considered kidnapping.
I resisted. And my neighbours were watching, and they tried to help. So they called the green uniformed police, both local and national.
Those ‘people’ who tried to kidnap me, waited for somebody to come from the court with a warrant to search my place.
They were looking for some key documents that could easily prove the corruption of top Citibank executives.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: What kind of evidence did they need in order to obtain this warrant?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: They got it through corrupt police who made false statements.
All they wanted to do was to confiscate these key documents… the evidence that could prove the Citibank corruption.
That’s why they searched my house and took me into custody. That’s why they held me for six days.
Thereafter I was released. They had absolutely no evidence! And that was proven in the Marbella court.
Due to this fact, I was released with no charges against me.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: Is it a normal practice in Spain to obtain a warrant without any evidence?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: Perhaps not in the whole of Spain, but in certain areas, like Marbella, where the corruption is so widespread. It’s public knowledge. Really… nothing surprises anyone!
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: Do you feel that the Judge was involved in any way with all these unorthodox procedures, or as you refer to it… ‘corruption’?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: Oh yes. He was intimidated not only by the American Embassy, but by senior Spanish authorities, as well.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: Do you have any proof?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: I certainly do. It’s all registered in the court.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: Is this the first time that your home has ever been searched?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: I have lived in Spain for the past 25 years. This is the first time that my home has ever been searched.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: A formal suit has been filed? Why?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: Yes. 250 Million USD, including punitive damages.
It’s been filed in the Tribunal of Estraburgo in Europe, because I find it very difficult to obtain any form of justice in the USA if the financial is not there.
I want to believe that not all of the Citibank Corp. is under criminal activity.
It’s just some top executives who happen to have power, but no principles or morality.
And I don’t feel that a bunch of corrupt executives along with the help of corrupt UK and US authorities should get away with this.
They have no problem destroying people’s lives in order to conceal their criminal activity. Since the arrest, my life has been turned upside down.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: In this ‘corrupt system’, as you stated, what are your chances of victory?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: I firmly believe that not all of the world is corrupt.
With the help of honest authorities, and perhaps even Citigroup shareholder, Prince Al-Waleed, who may or may not be aware of this cover-up, I believe that because of the ‘moral cause’, I will definitely achieve justice.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: Do you know who you’re up against?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: Yes, of course. After 10 years, I know them well.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: How harmful would this information be to Citibank, if it became public? What level of proof is there? MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: Extremely harmful if not destructive -documented evidence that clearly proves that Citibank is protecting international arms dealers with terrorist connections.
And I’m talking very dangerous arms deals with terrorist connections.
ELYAHOU LALLOUZ: Ten years have passed. You’ve suffered tremendously in so many ways. How do you feel about what Citibank has done to your life?
MIGUEL PEDRAGLIO: At the end of the day, they have done me a favour.
Thanks to them, both time and destiny have placed me in a position to claim a substantial amount of money for damages and suffering. I didn’t choose this. It chose me and I have to live with that every day of my life.
END OF PEDRAGLIO INTERVIEW
LALLOUZ INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE: If a Rap Sheet were to be looked upon as impressive, Citibank would be classified as a world leader in the eyes of millions.
With a history of defrauding London based clients with high risk projects in exchange for customer loans, or money laundering for world dictators of Argentina, Yugoslavia, Nigeria and other African countries, the list continues with Poly Peck fraud Europe in which Citibank was caught up in the largest ever corporate collapse of that time, in keeping with the Salinas-Citibank Affair, including brothers Raul Salinas and former Mexican President Carlos Salinas, notorious for their drug cartel involvement.
Lest we not forget about the Deputy Prime Minister Koutsogiorgas of Greece, and his bribe money received from a Greek bank… just a short list of clients whom have utilized the ‘then available’ laundering service offered by ‘one of the largest full service banks in the world’ Citibank. Astonishingly enough, Citibank has even sustained a £75 million pound sterling lawsuit. Now that’s solid banking!
Bre-X, Enron, President Clinton’s 11th hour pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich… perhaps we are the culprits who empower Blue Chip companies by classifying them as invincible.
Has time not taught us that even the ‘biggest and best’ can fall from grace into a pile of fool’s gold?
Millions upon millions of hard working individuals voluntarily place their money within Citibank’s establishment.
And in return, from the smallest to the most affluent of clients, demand and deserve the same trust with which they give it. Unfortunately, at the hands of greedy executives, corporate giants such as Citibank are forever vulnerable to the temptations of corruption and all the frivolities they so meaninglessly put forward.
Not a Citibank witch hunt, not an attack on world leaders, not an attack on Europe, and most certainly not an attack on America.
A mere reportage, nothing more than a neutral deliverance about a Citibank client, a translator, Mr. Pedraglio — a simple man representative of yourself, who Pedraglio — a simple man representative of yourself, who found himself caught up in the middle of an ‘internal conspiracy of silence’ whereby Citibank allegedly wished to acquire a list of its ‘most disloyal employees’… the very enforcers who aided and abetted, funded, planned, plotted, and fraternized with the enemy.
The very executives who were clearly instrumental in enforcing strategic alliances with real world adversaries.
These are covert makers of destruction… evil-doers who narcissistically work against the moral cause for which we stand.
But there is one truth in all of this to be learned. Regardless of dissimilar backgrounds, ethics, or religious beliefs, there remains a solid understanding that a vast majority share a common God. That GOD IS GREEN.
Do Govern Yourselves Accordingly.
