I thank the gentleman from West
Virginia bribery corruption and fraud
throughout my tenure as a state and
federal prosecutor I saw all of these
evils and more I'm disappointed to say
that the words I once used to describe
White Collar criminals can now be used
to define a federally funded entity the
export import bank or as some know it
the XM bank has taken advantage of our
free market system an institution that
once stood for economic growth
prosperity and Global expansion now
stands as a symbol of greed a pillar of
crony
capitalism it does not take a trained
eye to see that the XM bank is exactly
what is wrong with Washington today this
80-year-old institution we once trusted
to expand our made in America brand to
every corner of the globe has failed to
live up to its Charter and has in
instead morphed into something else the
bank does not maintain or create jobs it
does not support small business as much
as its supporters would like you to
think it does not level the playing
field for us exporters it is not even a
good deal for taxpayers the XM bank has
become more like a train with no
conductor at the home running faster and
faster heading straight off the tracks
as so often happens when accountability
is Slim
and punishment is non-existent the XM
bank has become a breeding ground for
corruption cronyism and
fraud if you think I'm wrong even
President Obama agreed with me back in
2008 before he ascended to the White
House Mr Obama said that the XM Bank was
little more than corporate welfare the
president is also on record saying there
should be a Level Playing Field for us
EXP exporters allowing them to compete
based on the quality and price of their
goods and services rather than on the
quality of any officially supported
financing you know Mr President great
things the great thing about the
internet is those words never go away no
matter how much you change your tune at
best the bank is handpicking winners and
losers at worst XM bank is corruptly
accepting bribes crookedly steering
funds to favored foreign companies and
chilling the market for our homegrown
companies take for instance Delta
Airlines Delta is suing XM bank because
it feels that is being cheated out of
many of its former routes the airline is
on record saying that foreign
competitors aided by American taxpayer
funded loans from the XM Bank can now
charge less per flight because they
purchased Boeing aircraft at cheaper
prices than our own American companies
can the American taxpayer is subsidizing
foreign airlines that compete with other
American
Airlines speaking of
Boeing and their corrupt pra and the XM
bank's Corrupt Practices following Delta
suit Congress mandated that the bank
perform economic impact reviews on all
large
deals take one guess who helped in XM
craft these rules Boeing this company
that receives
65.4% of the bank's taxpayer backed
financing to help sell their Jets to
foreign companies putting domestic
Airlines like Delta in a bind how can XM
justify its claims of leveling the
playing field creating American jobs or
some boarding small businesses with
these
practices it only takes a quick glance
at xm's leadership to see how we got to
this point the Daily Caller found that
fully half of xm's own Adis advisory
committee members LED businesses that
directly benefited from XM financing
during their term five more members had
XM funding reached their organizations
before joining the advisory committee
and most disturbing of all if we can
have something more disturbing is that
the current advisory committee chair is
former Democratic governor Christine
Gregor of Washington state Washington
state which receives
43.6% of of the bank's total funding I
invite you once again to take one guess
at what company is headquartered in
Washington state yes you guessed it
Boeing if this is not bad enough between
October 2007 and March
2014 there were 124 investigations
linked to corruption surrounding the XM
Bank this includes some
792 spe separate claims involving more
than $500 million
the XM Inspector General also revealed
last week that 31 other XM Bank
employees are currently being
investigated for
fraud that brings us to nearly 40 XM
employees that have already been
investigated or are currently being
investigated for fraud during an
oversight and government reform
committee during the week of April 15th
the export import Banks Inspector
General revealed that four senior level
XM employees were relieved of their
duties last summer these employees were
allegedly steering taxpayer funded loans
to favored companies in exchange for
cash payments and other Kickbacks a
former congressman is sitting now in
federal prison until
2023 on bribery charges linked to bank
practices another former XM employee was
indicted in the same scheme for
soliciting and accepting
$173,500 in br
the list goes on and on how can we
justify allowing a federal agency to
continue to operate in FL in flagrant
disregard of the law the most recent of
these cases features a former XM loan
officer Johnny gueras you may remember
Mr gz is one of the four XM employees I
mentioned before he has the dubious
honor of being the first of these four
to be formally charged with bribery by
the Department of Justice he allegedly
accepted cash bribes 19 times times
between 2006 and
2013 to help direct taxpayer backed
loans to a Florida based construction
equipment exporter impex Association Mr
gz was apparently very good at his job
he secure between one and 1 million and5
million to finance impa Association
projects in both Mexico and the
Dominican Republic in June 2007 similar
guarantees were also promised to Jamaica
and the Turks and Kos it is clear
unfortunately that this is not an
isolated
incident it only gets worse in 2009
former Democratic Congressman William J
Jefferson from Louisiana was convicted
for accepting bribes from us telecon
company iate in a Nigerian company in
exchange for selling access to XM Bank
employees Jefferson was even videotaped
receiving
$100,000 at the rich at the richz
Carlton Hotel right across the river in
lington when Federal investigators
raided Jefferson's house they discovered
over $90,000 in cash stashed away in his
freezer this does not even take into
account the former XM employee Moren
Scurry who was indicted for
$173,500 worth of bribes to help the
Nigerian
company I don't know about you but when
an internal poll shows that only
42.1% of your employees think the
organization's leader maintain a high
standard of honesty and Integrity in
only 50.2% of employees believe they can
disclose violations of the law without
fearing for their jobs there is
something terribly wrong it is time for
a change here in Washington the XM bank
is the perfect example of what happens
when a single agency is allowed to pick
winners and losers for too long XM
employees have been accepting falsified
documents failing to record applicants
eligibility and forging mandatory checks
on applicant Financial Integrity there
is a systemic sickness poisoning this
agency's this agency with greed and
Corruption it must be stopped and it
must be stopped now this battle may be
hard but it is one I feel deep down that
we must fight we cannot allow this
corrupt agency to continue picking
winners and losers laughing in the face
of our laws and degrading our free
market principles the XM bank is a
portrait of exactly what is wrong with
Washington today and it's finally time
for change that is why I ask you to join
me on June June 30th in allowing this
pillar of crony capitalism to expire
once and for
all