The Mthethwa Case: Unravelling a Diplomatic Tragedy's Darker Questions

Anda Mbikwana | The Star (South Africa)

The death of South African Ambassador Nathi Mthethwa in a Paris hotel has thrust uncomfortable questions into public discourse: questions not just about how a senior diplomat died, but about what his death might reveal regarding the state of governance, investigative integrity, and institutional safety in South Africa.

While French authorities conduct their investigation, South Africans are left grappling with a narrative that feels disturbingly familiar — another prominent figure connected to sensitive inquiries, another unexpected death, another round of speculation about whether the official story holds water.

What we know is limited but significant. Ambassador Mthethwa was found after falling from his hotel room. A window was forced open. He had allegedly sent a "disturbing message" beforehand. He was connected to investigations touching on corruption involving high-level figures.

What we do not know is everything that matters: the content of that message, who might have had access to his room, what security protocols were in place, and crucially, what specific evidence or testimony he might have possessed.

The forced window presents the most glaring anomaly. Modern hotels — particularly those hosting diplomatic personnel — typically have windows designed against accidental opening.

For such a window to be "forced open" suggests either determined intent from within or external interference. Neither scenario comfortably supports a straightforward suicide narrative.

South Africa has witnessed a troubling pattern over the past decade: individuals connected to corruption investigations, whistle-blowers, and those positioned to provide damaging testimony have died under circumstances ranging from suspicious to inexplicable. 

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More than two thirds of Americans don’t believe Epstein died by suicide

RT

It appears most Americans don’t believe the official narrative on the death of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after a poll found that more people believe the financier died as a result of murder rather than suicide.

The curious circumstances surrounding Epstein’s reported suicide last Saturday raised more than a few eyebrows. Now, a poll from Rasmussen has found that only 29 percent of Americans believe he died by suicide in jail. That figure pales in comparison to the 42 percent of people who think that Epstein was murdered to prevent him from testifying against some of his powerful associates.*

The news attracted a huge level of interest with more than two thirds of people saying that they followed developments ‘closely’ and one quarter of people saying they followed it ‘very closely.’ Among Americans following the story ‘very closely’, 56 percent believe Epstein was murdered, Rasmussen found.

The survey was carried out in the days after Epstein’s death and it involved 1,000 respondents. It found that men were more likely than women to suspect that the disgraced financier was murdered. White respondents were also found to be less suspicious than people from minority backgrounds.

On Thursday, the Washington Post reported that Epstein’s autopsy found that the 66-year old had several broken bones in his neck including his hyoid bone. Forensic experts told the paper that breaks in the bone can occur in those who hang themselves, however, they are more common in victims of homicide by strangulation.

*  (To see survey question wording, click here.)

It's Official: Epstein Committed Suicide By Hanging, Medical Examiner Rules

Zero Hedge

A New York medical examiner announced on Friday that Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide by hanging himself in his jail cell, according to CNBC. 

The 66-year-old millionaire pedophile was found in his cell on Saturday morning at the Manhattan Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC), after which he was rushed to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead.

Epstein was remanded to jail pending trial on charges of sex trafficking of minors and sex trafficking conspiracy, which were lodged by federal prosecutors in Manhattan last month. He was accused of abusing dozens of underage girls in his mansions in New York and Palm Beach, Florida, between 2002 and 2005. -CNBC

The ruling comes after the Washington Post revealed that Epstein's autopsy found multiple breaks in his neck bones commonly found in victims of homicide by strangulation, the hyoid bone near the Adam's apple. 

Epstein's blood vessels in his eyes popped when his air supply was cut off by the bed sheet that was wrapped around his neck ... this according to law enforcement sources briefed on the case. We're told he suffered petechial hemorrhaging, caused when someone hangs himself or is strangled or smothered, but authorities are confident this was a hanging. 

We're told the bed sheets were tied to the top of a bunk bed and Epstein either hurled himself off the top bunk or had his feet to the ground and leaned forward to cut off his air supply. Authorities believe the former is true, because throwing himself off the top bunk and falling violently to the ground could explain why his hyoid bone was fractured. -TMZ

That still doesn't explain the shrieking heard from Epstein's jail cell according to reports.

You REALLY want to know? US Army asks members how serving ‘impacted’ them, gets schooled in replies

RT

The US Army probably expected an influx of patriotic replies when it asked for testimonies about people’s service. Instead, Twitter offered disturbing stories of debilitating injuries, mental health problems and suicide. 

It all began with a a video of a soldier who told the camera he joined to serve "something greater than myself." The army, the featured soldier said, had given him the opportunity to "give to others" and better himself "as a man and a lawyer."

The Army then made the mistake of asking Twitter at large for their thoughts.

That was where the patriotism ended. The account was quickly inundated with responses from former service members and their families — and they make for some seriously disturbing reading.

From damaged mental health and suicide, friends lost to war, post-traumatic stress (PTSD), nightmares and life-changing injuries, almost none of the responses were positive. 

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The Netflix Series “13 Reasons Why” Linked to a Spike in Suicide Rates

Vigilant Citizen

A study supported by the National Institute of Mental Health observed a near 30% increase in suicide rates amongst teenagers in the month following the release of “13 Reasons Why” on Netflix. 

Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry recently published a study titled Association Between the Release of Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why and Suicide Rates in the United States: An Interrupted Times Series Analysis and its conclusion is quite telling:

The release of 13 Reasons Why was associated with a significant increase in monthly suicide rates among U.S. youth aged 10 to 17 years. Caution regarding the exposure of children and adolescents to the series is warranted.

According to the study, 13 Reasons Why was associated with a 28.9% increase in suicide rates amongst young people directly following its release in April 2017. The number of deaths by suicide recorded during this month was greater than the number seen in any single month during the five-year period examined by the researchers.

These results confirm prior concerns regarding the show. Indeed, immediately after its release, various mental health specialists and organizations warned against the insidious effects of the show on its viewership. The main problem: Graphic depiction of suicide combined the glorification of the person committing it.

“Mental health experts describe the show as worrisome and point to how its relatable characters and graphic depiction of suicide can pose a health risk for young people already struggling with mental health issues.”
– CNN, ’13 Reasons Why’ tied to rise in suicide searches online

Shortly after the show’s premiere, a study revealed that 13 Reasons Why was linked to a rise in suicide-related web searches, notably “How to commit suicide”.

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“Gender therapy” doctor admits to advising kids to fake being suicidal to get transgender “treatments”

The Bridgehead

Earlier this year, I noted that transgender activists were going to use data on the suicide rate in the transgender community to go after schools they consider insufficiently supportive of their ideological agenda, despite the fact that there is no evidence that physical transition actually reduces suicidal ideation. As it turns out, there are some medical quacks willing to go quite a bit further in their crusade to assist young children in the transition process, including a psychologist from British Columbia, Canada:

Dr. Wallace Wong…is facing calls for an inquiry into the conduct of his practice. On February 28…Wong spoke at an event hosted by Vancouver Public Library. In a tape of the event obtained by Canadian pro-family group Culture Guard, Wong is heard proudly describing the scope of his children-only “gender therapy” practice, noting that his youngest client is not yet three years old and that he has 501 orphans and foster kids in his local practice.

If true, this indicates Wong has likely used his relationship with the BC Ministry of Children and Family to diagnose more than 10 to 20 percent of local children in government care as needing his “gender therapy,” according to Culture Guard President Kari Simpson.

In Wong’s own words, his practice began in 2010 with just “four clients at the ministry” but in the course of nine years, there was such an enormous surge of need within that population that he now has “more than 500 kids, [with] just the Ministry alone…. So we can imagine the demand of service is soaring…. The phenomenon is happening a lot faster than – than we expected.”

Simpson expressed outrage at this “soaring” demand, claiming Wong was “gender-jacking” vulnerable children from the Ministry and “profiting” handsomely into the bargain.

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JPMorgan Managing Director Dies Suddenly; Has Links to Other JPM Deaths

Pam Martens
Wall St. On Parade

When you are the largest bank in the United States and you’ve been compared to the Gambino crime family in a book by two trial lawyers; when you’ve pleaded guilty to three criminal felony counts brought by the United States Justice Department in the past five years; when you’ve paid over $30 billion in fines over charges of crimes against the public and investors since 2008; and when you’ve had an unprecedented string of employees leaping to their death from buildings, dropping dead at home or on the street, and two alleged murder-suicides by employees — all in just the past five years – one might think that law enforcement might show some interest – especially since this employer – JPMorgan Chase – holds tens of billions of dollars of Bank-Owned Life Insurance (BOLI) on its workers. (This death benefit, by the way, pays tax-free to the corporation, not the employee’s family.)

But when it comes to JPMorgan Chase and law enforcement, there does not seem to be a morsel of curiosity over the continuing sudden deaths of its computer technology workers – no matter how high up the corporate ladder they rank or how many floors they are alleged to fall to their death.

Take the case of Douglas (Doug) Arthur Carucci, age 53, who died on Saturday, March 9 under what Sarah Butcher at eFinancial Careers calls “tragic” and unexpected circumstances. Carucci is believed to have been a resident of Manhattan with his wife, Cindy.

We called the New York City Police Department and were told they had no information in their database about the death of a Douglas Carucci in March 2019. We next emailed the New York City Medical Examiner’s office – which is mandated under law to investigate all deaths from accidents or sudden deaths. Aja Worthy-Davis, the Executive Director for Public Affairs of the Medical Examiner’s Office responded as follows:

“There is no OCME record of this individual (under the name shared). Please keep in mind that the OCME does not investigate (or keep records of) all deaths within the City of New York. The OCME is specifically responsible for investigating only NYC-based deaths occurring from criminal violence, by accident, by suicide, or in any unusual or suspicious manner.”

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Another “suicide” of a child sex trafficking whistleblower

The Sun

 

AN ACTIVIST whose claims led to the "rape" arrest of a celebrity healer called John of God has taken her own life at her hideaway in Spain.

Sex abuse support group Victimas Unidas, which worked with Sabrina Bittencourt, said she had left a note explaining why she killed herself.

Eldest son Gabriel Baum confirmed her death, writing on Facebook: “She took the last step so that we could live. They killed my mother.”

More than 600 women have accused John of God - real name Joao Teixeira de Faria - of sexually abusing them during so-called healing sessions.

He was arrested in his homeland of Brazil in December and remanded in prison before being charged with rape and sexual assault.

The cult leader gained international fame in 2010 when US TV star Oprah Winfrey visited his retreat to interview him for her talk show.

She wrote she left feeling “an overwhelming sense of peace”, although she later deleted the comments and has since said she hopes justice is done. 

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Algorithms expose harmful content: 30 families blame social media firms for their roles in children's suicides

Faith Ridler
Daily Mail

Thirty families have blamed social media for provoking their children's suicides as it emerged Pinterest sent tragic Molly Russell a personalized email containing images of self-harm.

Molly, 14, of Harrow, north west London, was found dead in her bedroom in November 2017 after showing 'no obvious signs' of severe mental health issues.

Her family later found she had been viewing material on social media linked to anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicide.

The teenager's father has now criticized Pinterest, alongside Instagram, for hosting 'harmful' images he said may have played a part in her death. Ian Russell said: 'The more I looked, the more there was that chill horror that I was getting a glimpse into something that had such profound effects on my lovely daughter. Pinterest has a huge amount to answer for.'

Papyrus, a charity working to prevent child suicides, said it has been contacted by 30 families who suspect social media played a part in their children's deaths, the Sunday Times reported.

Pinterest, which allows users to save images in a virtual scrapbook, hosts images of self-harm wounds, fists clasping white pills, and macabre mottos which can be viewed by children aged 13 and over.

The website, which uses algorithms to drive content, sent a personalized email to Molly containing graphic images a month after she died.

The email, which included an image of a slashed thigh, said: 'I can't tell you how many times I wish I was dead.' Her father has now asked for an independent regulator to be established in the UK to ensure distressing content is 'removed from social media and online within 24 hours'.

Mr Russell said: 'We are very keen to raise awareness of the harmful and disturbing content that is freely available to young people online. 'Not only that, but the social media companies, through their algorithms, expose young people to more and more harmful content, just from one click on one post.

'In the same way that someone who has shown an interest in a particular sport may be shown more and more posts about that sport, the same can be true of topics such as self-harm or suicide.'

Mr Russell said Molly, who went to Hatch End High School in Harrow, Middlesex, had started viewing disturbing posts on the social network without the family's knowledge.

He told the BBC: 'She seemed to be a very ordinary teenager. She was future-looking. She was enthusiastic.

The Suicide rate among active-duty Marines at a 10-year high

cnn.com

 

The number of confirmed and suspected suicides in the active-duty Marine Corps reached a 10-year high in 2018 with 57 cases, according to new Marine Corps data obtained by CNN.

Another 18 Marines in the Reserve forces either are confirmed to have committed suicide or their deaths are being investigated as suspected suicides.

Marine Corps sources say the service is concerned that 2018 may have seen 75 suicides even with the extensive mental health programs available. Many of the cases are young Marines who have not deployed overseas and have not been in combat -- a situation that has been seen in other branches of the military as well.

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EXCLUSIVE: Documents reveal Pentagon censorship of military suicides, trauma in Hollywood

Tom Secker

Insurge Intelligence/Medium

A 2016 study found that 20 US veterans kill themselves every day. Department of Defence (DOD )statistics show that the suicide rate among veterans is around twice the rate in the non-military population. An analysisin 2017 said that a suicide attempt in a military unit makes other attempts more likely, and that 20% of all the suicides in the US are by military veterans.

These brutal statistics testify to the futility of our post-9/11 wars, as well as the horrors inflicted on those employed to fight these wars on the ground.

What has never previously been reported is the extent to which the Pentagon’s entertainment liaison offices manipulate and censor films, TV shows and documentaries to try to downplay or erase the widespread problem of military PTSD and suicide.

Among the stories we discovered while writing our book National Security Cinema is that there was a raging argument on the set of Iron Man between writer/director Jon Favreau and DOD Hollywood liaison Phil Strub. Strub refused to let Favreau include a line where a military character says that he knows people who would ‘kill themselves for the opportunities he has’. Though the line was changed, this scene did not appear in the finished film.

Using documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, along with files from a newly-opened archive in Georgetown, I investigated the Pentagon’s approach to projects that feature or reference military PTSD and suicide. I found that the DOD has repeatedly censored and refused to support films, TV shows and documentaries that feature military suicide, and tends to only support those projects that make it look like the DOD is solving the problem.

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5 Whistleblowers Who Died Mysteriously

Sputnik

In the wake of the death on Wednesday of Iraq War veteran and computer security expert James Dolan, Sputnik decided to recall other whistleblowers that have passed away under rather vague circumstances.

1. James Dolan was a co-creator of the whistleblower submission system SecureDrop along with Aaron Swartz, who killed himself in 2013 following prosecution for an alleged criminal hacking incident. 36-year-old Dolan, who reportedly also took his own life, joined the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) after Swartz’s death. The circumstances of Dolan’s death are yet unknown, however the FPF reported that he had been suffering from PTSD since the Iraq War.

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MAJOR Player In Hillary’s INNER CIRCLE ‘Suddenly’ ‘COMMITS SUICIDE,’ LOOK What He Knew

Sean Brown

 

Yes another person with extremely close ties to Hillary Clinton has died a mysterious death, and after seeing what he was involved with it’s hard not to question if foul play was involved.

Houston, Texas trial lawyer and Democrat mega donor Steve Mostyn died on Thursday in what authorities are saying was a “suicide,” according to the Houston Chronicle. Mr. Mostyn was only 46, he left behind a wife and several children, and earlier this year had announced that he was going to be stepping away from politics to spend more time with his family.

Details about how Mr. Mostyn allegedly committed suicide are slim. However, his family said that it happened after he “suddenly” became afflicted with some sort of mental illness then took his own life, although they weren’t clear as to what type of mental illness he suffered from.

But it is worth noting that Mr. Mostyn had never suffered from mental illness in the past, according to his family, further raising suspicions over the manner in which he died.

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Is school literally driving kids crazy?

Kerry McDonald
fee.org

May can be a particularly dangerous month for schoolchildren. According to 13 years of recent data collected on mental health emergency room visits at Connecticut Children's Mental Health Center in Hartford, May typically has the most.
Under Pressure

Boston College psychology professor, Peter Gray, looked more closely at this data and found that children's mental health is directly related to school attendance. Dr. Gray found that children's psychiatric ER visits drop precipitously in the summer and rise again once school begins. The May spike likely coincides with end-of-school academic and social pressures.

Dr. Gray concludes: "The available evidence suggests quite strongly that school is bad for children's mental health. Of course, it's bad for their physical health, too; nature did not design children to be cooped up all day at a micromanaged, sedentary job."

School-related anxiety and depression are real, serious issues that can lead to catastrophe, as evidenced by the rising suicide rate among children. In fact, according to the CDC, the suicide rate among 10 to 14 year olds has doubled since 2007. And for girls in that age group, the suicide rate has tripled over the past 15 years.

Beyond these extreme mental health crises, Dr. Gray's research, and that of others, has shown that generalized anxiety and depression are skyrocketing in children. Dr. Gray maintains that much of this rise in anxiety and depression in children is due to lengthier, more restrictive schooling over the past several decades. He writes:

Children today spend more hours per day, days per year, and years of their life in school than ever before. More weight is given to tests and grades than ever. Outside of school, children spend more time than ever in settings in which they are directed, protected, catered to, ranked, judged, and rewarded by adults. In all of these settings adults are in control, not children."

A national study of trends in adolescent depression rates found that teens reporting a major depressive episode (MDE) within the previous year skyrocketed from 8.7% in 2005 to 11.5% in 2014. The report, published last November in the journal Pediatrics, reveals: "The risk of depression sharply rises as children transition to adolescence." The researchers cite stress and bullying as contributing factors. 

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NATO Auditor General found dead in Belgium

News.AM

 

NATO Auditor General was found dead in Belgium. The body of Yves Chandelon was found in the city of Andenne, in 140 kilometers from the place of his work and 100 km from Lens where he lived.

According to local mass media, the auditor committed suicide. He was found with shot in the head. 

However, the family doesn't believe in the suicide version, Life reported.

Three unites of weapon have been registered on the 60-year-old man. However, an unregistered weapon was found next to his body, Belg24 reported.

NATO Auditor General Yves Chandelon, in particular, dealt with counteraction against terrorism financing issues. Shortly before death he reported he was receiving strange calls.

Something Huge Is Happening! Over 40 Bankers Dead Since 2014: Latest Banker Death Connected To JP Morgan VP

Susan Duclos All News PipeLine Since the beginning of 2014, over 40 bankers have died, and while the reports of the circumstances of their deaths, suicides, accidents, natural causes, etc... do not imply any wrongdoing, the sheer number over a 14 month span, seems to contradict the official story line. The list just got longer with this report showing that investment banker, 32 year-old Kate Matrosova, was found dead in the New Hampshire mountains on Monday. Matrosova was dropped off on Sunday night by her husband, whom the Daily Mail names as Charlie Farhoodi. According to a LinkedIn profile for the name Charlie Farhoodi, he is listed as a Vice President of JP Morgan. (Screen shot shown below) The connection is solid as on Matrosova's Facebook page, there is a photo album titled "Charlie and my girls," which provides pictures of Mr. Farhoodi, one of which is shown below. The prior 36 banker deaths from 2014, found at ZeroHedge, shown below:   1) David Bird, 55, long-time reporter for the Wall Street Journal working at the Dow Jones news room 2) Tim Dickenson, a U.K.-based communications director at Swiss Re AG   3) William Broeksmit, 58, former senior manager for Deutsche Bank 4) Ryan Henry Crane, age 37, JP Morgan 5) Li Junjie, 33, Hong Kong JP Morgan 6) Gabriel Magee, 39, age JP Morgan employee 7) Mike Dueker, 50, who had worked for Russell Investments 8) Richard Talley, 57, was the founder and CEO of American Title (real estate titles)   9) James Stuart Jr. 70, Former National Bank of Commerce CEO was found dead in Scottsdale, Ariz   10) Jason Alan Salais, 34 year old IT Specialist at JPMorgan since 2008   11) Autumn Radtke, 28, CEO of First Meta, a Singapore-based virtual currency trading platform   12) Eddie Reilly, 47, investment banker, Vertical Group, New York   13) Kenneth Ballando, 28, investment banker, Levy Capital, New york   14) Joseph A. Giampapa, 55, corporate bankruptcy lawyer, JP Morgan Chase   15) Jan Peter Schmittmann, 57, voormalig topbestuurder ANB/AMRO, Laren, Nederland   16) Juergen Frick, 48, CEO Bank Frick & Co AG, Liechtenstein   17) Benoît Philippens, 37, directeur BNP Parisbas Fortis Bank, Ans, België.   18) Lydia…, 52, bankier Bred-Banque-Populaire, Parijs   19) Andrew Jarzyk, 27, bankier, PNC Bank, New York   20) Carlos Six, 61, Hoofd Belastingdienst en lid CREDAF, België   21) Jan Winkelhuijzen, 75, Commissaris en Fiscalist (voormalig Deloitte), Nederland. 22) Richard Rockefeller, 66, achterkleinzoon elitebankier John D. Rockefeller, Amerika   23) Mahafarid Amir Khosravi (Amir Mansour Aria), 45, bankeigenaar, zakenman en derivatenhandelaar, Iran   24) Lewis Katz, 76, zakenman, advocaat en insider in de bancaire wereld, Amerika   25) Julian Knott, Directeur Global Operations Center JP Morgan, 45, Amerika   26) Richard Gravino, IT Specialist JP Morgan, 49, Amerika   27) Thomas James Schenkman, Managing Director Global Infrastructure JP Morgan, 42, Amerika   28) Nicholas Valtz, 39, Managing Director Goldman Sachs, New York, Amerika   29) Therese Brouwer, 50, Managing Director ING, Nederland   30) Tod Robert Edward, 51, Vice President M & T Bank, Amerika   31) Thierry Leyne, 48, investeringsbankier en eigenaar Anatevka S.A., Israël  32) Calogero Gambino, 41, Managing Director Deutsche Bank, Amerika  33) Shawn D. Miller, 42, Managing Director Citigroup, New York, Amerika  34) Melissa Millian, 54, Senior Vice President Mass Mutual, Amerika   35) Thieu Leenen, 64, Relatiemanager ABN/AMRO, Eindhoven, Nederland   36) Geert Tack, 52, Private Banker ING, Haaltert, België Since the beginning of 2015, the bank deaths have continued, with  1) Michael Flanagan, 45, head of Foreign Exchange, National Australia Bank, London, England 2) Omar Meza, 33, Vice President, AIG, Los Angeles, America 3) Chris van Eeghen, 42, Head of Syndicate and Corporate Finance Markets, ABN / AMRO, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Those were as of January 24, 2015. On February 6, 2015, yet another two bankers were killed, reported here at ANP. Those two were   1) Aditya Tomar   2)  Eric Vandercar. By February 9, 2015, another banker and his wife were dead, supposedly Michael A. Tabacchi, 27, listed as a JPMorgan Chase & Co. employee strangled and stabbed his wife to death before turning the knife on himself. According to some, that list is even longer than those named above. Even for those that believe that a stream of coincidences such as well over 40 bankers all dying in such rapid succession, when you add to that knowledge that back in February 2014, when there were less than a handful of deaths, Steve Quayle brought to our attention that there was a hitlist and it included over 3 dozen names, a larger, more disturbing picture emerges. Something huge is happening here and as the first video below asks, could this all have to do with an upcoming economic collapse and the chaos that would assuredly follow?

48 suspicious banking deaths

Hang the Bankers

Our advice is if JP Morgan offers you a job: politley decline. The list of top level bankers dying under suspicious circumstances has been growing rapidly in recent months.

Whether these are genuine deaths or something more sinister one thing is for certain, banking is becoming one of the most dangerous industries to be involved in right now with an extremely high death per employee ratio.

The causes of death given for some of the bankers seems quite odd to say the least including one banker shooting himself 8 times with a nail gun and another being crushed to death by their own SUV.

With the global financial system heading towards a major crash in the near future are these people buckling under the pressure of what they see coming or are they being silenced because of what they know?

We can only assume it’s a little of both.

Here’s the list of top level bankers who have died recently:

DEAD (48)

July – Julian Knott, 45, JPMorgan Executive Director,Global Tier 3 Network Operations, SELF-INFLICTED GUNSHOT WOUND

June – Richard Gravino, 49, Application Team Lead, JP Morgan, SUDDEN DEATH cause unknown/pending

June – James McDonald – President & CEO of Rockefeller & Co – apparently self-inflicted, GUNSHOT WOUND

May – Thomas Schenkman, 42, Managing Director of Global Infrastructure, JP Morgan, SUDDEN DEATH, cause unknown/pending

May – Naseem Mubeen – Assistant Vice President ZBTL Bank, Islamabad, SUICIDE jumped

May – Daniel Leaf – senior manager at the Bank of Scotland/Saracen Fund Managers, FELL OFF A CLIFF

May – Nigel Sharvin – Senior Relationship Manager Ulster Bank manage portfolio of distressed businesses, ACCIDENTAL DROWNING

April – Lydia (no surname given) 52, France’s Bred-Banque-Populaire, SUICIDE jumped

April – Li Jianhua, 49, Non-bank Financial Institutions Supervision Department of the regulator, HEART ATTACK

April – Benedict Philippens, Director/Manager Bank Ans-Saint-Nicolas, SHOT

April – Tanji Dewberry – Assistant Vice President, Credit Suisse, HOUSE FIRE

April – Amir Kess, co-founder and managing director Markstone Capital Group private equity fund, CYCLIST HIT BY CAR

April – Juergen Frick, Bank Frick & Co. AG, SHOT

April – Jan Peter Schmittmann – former CEO of Dutch Bank ABN Amro, (Possibly suicide, SHOT)

April – Andrew Jarzyk – Assistant Vice President, Commercial Banking at PNC Financial Services Group, MISSING/DEAD

March – Mohamed Hamwi – System Analyst at Trepp, a financial data and analytics firm, SHOT

March – Joseph Giampapa – JP Morgan lawyer, CYCLIST HIT BY MINIVAN

March – Kenneth Bellandro, former JP Morgan, SUICIDE jumped

Feb – John Ruiz – Morgan Stanley Municipal Debt Analyst, died suddenly, NO CAUSE GIVEN

Feb – Jason Alan Salais, 34, Information Technology specialist at JPMorgan, FOUND DEAD outside a Walgreens pharmacy

Feb –  Autumn Radtke, CEO of First Meta, a cyber-currency exchange firm, SUICIDE

Feb – James Stuart Jr, Former National Bank of Commerce CEO, FOUND DEAD

Feb – Edmund (Eddie) Reilly, trader at Midtown’s Vertical Group, SUICIDE

Feb – Li Junjie, JP Morgan, SUICIDE

Feb – Ryan Henry Crane, SUDDEN DEATH cause unknown

Feb – Richard Talley, UNKNOWN CAUSE

Jan – Gabriel Magee, SUICIDE

Jan – William ‘Bill’ Broeksmit, HUNG/POSSIBLE SUICIDE

Jan – Mike Dueker, SUDDEN DEATH cause unknown

Jan – Carl Slym, SUICIDE

Jan – Tim Dickenson, SUDDEN DEATH cause unknown

Dec 2013 – Robert Wilson, a retired hedge fund founder, apparent SUICIDE leaped to his death from his 16th floor residence

Dec 2013 – Joseph M. Ambrosio, age 34, Financial Analyst for J.P. Morgan, died suddenly from Acute Respiratory Syndrome

Dec 2013 – Benjamin Idim, CAR ACCIDENT

Dec 2013 – Susan Hewitt – Deutsche Bank, DROWNING

Nov 2013 – Patrick Sheehan, CAR ACCIDENT

Nov 2013 – Michael Anthony Turner, Career Banker, CAUSE UNKOWN

Nov 2013 – Venera Minakhmetova Former Financial Analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, CYCLIST HIT

Oct 2013 – Michael Burdin, SUICIDE

Oct 2013 – Ezdehar Husainat – former JP Morgan banker, killed in FREAK ACCIDENT when her SUV crushed her to death

Sept 2013 – Guy Ratovondrahona -Madagascar central bank, Sudden death – cause not confirmed

Aug 2013 – Pierre Wauthier, SUICIDE

Aug 2013 – Moritz Erhardt, SUICIDE

July 2013 Hussain Najadi CEO of merchant bank AIAK Group, SHOT

July 2013 Carsten Schloter, SUICIDE

July 2013 Sascha Schornstein – RBS in its commodity finance, MISSING

April 2013 David William Waygood, SUICIDE

Mar 2013 – David Rossi – communications director of troubled Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), SUICIDE

LETHAL BUT NON FATAL (MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SKIN A BANKER)

Fang Fang – JP Morgan, China, DISGRACED

Nick Bagnall – Director at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, son accidentally killed himself while trying to re-enact a Tudor hanging

Robin Clark – RP Martin -Wolf of Shenfield City banker shot, SURVIVED

Kevin Bespolka – Citi Capital Advisors, Dresdner Bank, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, Seriously injured and son dead

Robert Wheeler, 49, a Deutsche Bank financial advisor, DISGRACED

Chris Latham – Bank of America, ON TRIAL, Murder for Hire

Igor Artamonov – West Siberian Bank of Sberbank, Daughter found dead (POSSIBLE SUICIDE)

Hector Sants, Barclays – resigned due to stress and exhaustion, after being told he risked more serious consequences to his health if he continued to work – a remarkable turnaround as the Church reportedly approached him two months later and was told he had made a full recovery,

POSSIBLY INTERESTING/MILDLY STRANGE

April 21st Bruce A. Schaal, 63, died suddenly Banker in Twin Lakes for 35 years

April 20th Keith Barnish 58, Died Suddenly (Still working as Senior Managing Director at Doral Financial Corporation. Previously Bear Stearns, Bank of America Senior Vice President

March 12th Jeffrey Corzine, 31, son of MF Global CEO and Chairman Jon Corzine involved in major banking crime was found dead in an apparent suicide.

Keiran Toman, 39, former banker who believed he was being stalked by a reality TV crew starved to death in a hotel room, an inquest heard today.
An inquest was opened after his death in July 2010 but his family asked for a second hearing as they were not informed. Police found all of Mr Toman’s possessions in the room, but despite documents mentioning his family, failed to tell them he had died.

Nicholas Austin, 49, A former bank manager from Hersden died after drinking antifreeze in an effort to get high. was found in a coma by his wife Lynn at their home in Blackthorne Road on October 5. He died the same day.

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Recession 'led to 10,000 suicides'

BBC News

The economic crisis in Europe and North America led to more than 10,000 extra suicides, according to figures from UK researchers. 

A study, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, showed "suicides have risen markedly".

The research group said some deaths may have been avoidable as some countries showed no increase in suicide rate. 

Campaign groups said the findings showed how important good mental health services were.

The study by the University of Oxford and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine analysed data from 24 EU countries, the US and Canada.

Unemployment, repossessions and debt 
 
It said suicides had been declining in Europe until 2007. By 2009 there was a 6.5% increase, a level that was sustained until 2011.

It was the equivalent of 7,950 more suicides than would have been expected if previous trends continued, the research group said. 

Deaths by suicide were also falling in Canada, but there was a marked increase when the recession took hold in 2008, leading to 240 more suicides.

The number of people taking their own life was already increasing in the US, but the rate "accelerated" with the economic crisis, leading to 4,750 additional deaths. 

Read more

Eleven Years After US Invaded Iraq Bloodshed, Rape, Torture & Executions in the Country Are Ignored

 

Kevin Gosztola
The Dissenter

Kenneth Pollack, who has worked for the CIA and the National Security Council, was a prime advocate for the United States invasion and occupation of Iraq. He published a book called “The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq” that was considered widely to be a very convincing case that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction or was close to obtaining them. But Pollack, like many other war advocates who populated the airwaves of US media in the months prior to invasion, was wrong.

As bloody violence continues to erupt in Iraq, Pollack has not stopped being an advocate of greater US involvement or aid in Iraq, even though it has only helped to enable Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to further develop his brutal security forces.

A senior fellow for the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, he spoke before a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee in December 2013 and declared, “It is a great credit to this committee that at a time when the nation appears determined to forget our interests in Iraq, you refuse to do so. It is absolutely vital.”

“Since 2003, the United States has invested an enormous amount in Iraq, and the future of Iraq remains of great importance to the interests of the United States and our allies. Iraq has replaced Iran as the second leading oil exporter in OPEC, and projections of future low oil prices are highly contingent upon the continued growth of Iraqi oil exports. Remembering that virtually every postwar American recession was preceded by an increase in oil prices, Iraq and its oil production remain critical to the prosperity of the United States,” he added.

This was his first expressed concern: the future of oil production. He then proceeded to address the resurgence of al Qaeda and other issues in Iraq.

Pollack is emblematic of those who the world can quite clearly see were wrong. On the ten-year anniversary of the Iraq invasion, he still maintained, “Saddam didn’t have the capability we were ascribing to him — we were absolutely wrong about that — but he did have the motivation. He thought about nuclear weapons in a way most of the world does not. What we’re getting from the tapes of conversations among his inner circle is that he says they need to acquire nuclear weapons to wage war against Israel. There’s no sign this is bluster at all.”

Essentially, it may not have worked out as well as it could have, but, in the end, something had to be done.

Pollack is one of the few voices that can be found still writing about what they think the United States should be doing in Iraq. Like former Vice President Dick Cheney and others who served in President George W. Bush’s administration, he remains interested in the prize of oil in Iraq and how more of the country’s oil reserves could be liberated. But, to increase production, that requires a country that is not racked by violence.

He fantasized last year, “In an alternative universe, the United States might re-intervene in Iraq, redeploying tens of thousands of soldiers to restore everyone’s sense of safety and allowing the political process to heal again. In this universe, the United States is never going to intervene in Iraq again, nor will the Maliki government ever request that we do so.”

The result of the Bush administration’s decision to go to war in Iraq so the US government could make the country a client state and secure control of the country’s oil reserves has been horrific for Iraqis.

Dahr Jamail, one of the only American journalists still covering Iraq, reported this month for Truthout that Maliki’s forces had killed “at least 109 civilians” and wounded 632 people since they started to shell Fallujah in January. Doctors, residents and NGO workers, who he spoke with, accused the government of “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity.”

Maliki’s forces prevented medical supplies from entering Fallujah. A doctor said that many houses and a mosque were attacked. Shells hit a hospital. Tens of thousands of families have been displaced and have had very little food or water.

There are possibly a few US military trainers in Iraq and less than 10,000 military contractors, but, for the most part, Jamail said, the US has maintained power and control by selling “$20 billion worth of arms to the Maliki government in the forms of helicopters, tanks, missiles, ammunition, communications equipment and training.” And, when Fallujah erupted into violence in January, President Barack Obama’s “administration put a rush on shipping artillery equipment and missiles over to the Maliki government again to be used against the people of Fallujah.”

Human Rights Watch (HRW) produced a report on the abuse of women in Iraq’s criminal justice system. Thousands of Iraqi women are “imprisoned by a judicial system plagued by torture and rampant corruption.” Convictions are based on confessions “obtained under torture and ill-treatment.” Women are threatened and suffer beatings. Trial proceedings are unfair and “fall far short of international standards.”

An Iraqi woman interviewed by Human Rights Watch, “Israa Salah,” spoke to HRW in a death row facility. She had crutches, as she had suffered “nine days of beatings, electric shocks with an instrument known as ‘the donkey,’ and falaqa,” a form of torture where the victim is “hung upside down and beaten on their feet.” This happened in March 2012 and left her “permanently disabled.” She had a split nose, back scars and was burned on her breasts. She was executed in September 2013, even though lower courts had dismissed charges because she only confessed to a crime after being tortured.

Women are sexually assaulted or raped by prison guards. “Fatima Hussein,” who is a journalist accused of murdering a parliamentarian’s brother and of marrying an al Qaeda member, was physically and sexually tortured. Colonel Ghazi blindfolded her and tied her to a column. She was electrocuted with an electric baton. Her feet and back were hit with a cable. Her hair was pulled. She was tied naked to the column. Cigarettes were extinguished on her body. She was later handcuffed to a bed and forced to give oral sex. Then, with blood all over her, she was raped three times and Ghazi “would relax, have a cigarette and put it out” on her buttocks and then start violating her again.

The 2013 country report from the State Department on Iraq fully acknowledges the torture ongoing in the country. It concluded, “A culture of impunity largely protected members of the security services, as well as those elsewhere in the government, from investigation and successful prosecution for human rights violations. Corruption among officials across government agencies was widespread and contributed to significant human rights abuses.” However, this corruption has not stopped the sales of weapons to Maliki’s government. There have been few condemnations of Maliki or any public requests from the Obama administration for him to resign and be held accountable for crimes against humanity.

Iraqis suffer from grotesque and terrifying birth defects as a result of depleted uranium that was used by the US military. In Fallujah, a courageous woman, Dr. Samira Alani, has taken on the burden of dealing with newborns who have, as Jamail said, “massive multiple systemic defects, immune problems, massive central nervous system problems, massive heart problems, skeletal disorders, baby’s being born with two heads, babies being born with half of their internal organs outside of their bodies,” and “cyclops babies literally with one eye.”

Maliki’s government executed 169 people last year. The government refuses to acknowledge the dysfunction of the criminal justice system and stop executing a number of people who are innocent. Maliki even rebuked the United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon while standing next to him in a joint news conference because Ki-moon had urged the country to halt executions.

Birth defects, rape, torture, and executions—these are the residual effects of the US military occupation. Troops may have withdrawn, but in the aftermath, the country is being ruled by someone who some Iraqis refer to as a “Shia Saddam.”

Yet, in the United States, with the exception of MSNBC host Rachel Maddow’s documentary, “Why We Did It”, mentions of Iraq focus on whether the war was “worth” fighting, if gains of US troops are being lost in Fallujah and how America might overcome its “war-weariness.” Russia’s actions in Crimea have led pundits to wonder if Americans can pull themselves together and find a way to show “strength.”
On the anniversary of the invasion, The Atlantic announced that David Frum, a former speechwriter for Bush who wrote the “Axis of Evil” speech and war for oil, would be joining the media organization as a senior editor.

Any day of the year the organization could have made this announcement. But this is how Americans show contempt for the people of Iraq: by giving promotions to war advocates as we ignore the sheer scale of the injustice and horror we have wrought.

Over 1 million Iraqis died. Iraqis tortured cannot get the US to acknowledge what happened to them at the hands of US forces or contractors. Their suits are dismissed in courts. They struggle to heal. And US military veterans, who discover the reality of what they did, are offered little support. They suffer from homelessness, mental illness and commit suicide in record numbers.

There is no sense of responsibility among journalists in the US media to ensure that there is consistent coverage of Iraq, the least this country could do. Maybe that’s because these people helped fuel the climate that made it possible for the premeditated crime of invading Iraq to occur. Less coverage makes it possible to avoid having to further confront the role they played in a chain of events that now sees Iraq experiencing violence daily.