Sunday, April 26, 2009 5:48 AM
From:
"John Michael"
To:
undisclosed-recipients
Good day,I know this is an unconventional way of introducing a big andprofitablebusiness deal, but I however want you to take your time to read myletter carefully, you will understand the necessity for my action. Igotyour email address from the Ministry of Commerce DirectoryI am John Michael, staff of International Private Banking at HSBC Bank.I am contacting you concerning a deceased customer and an investment heplaced under our banks management three years ago. I would respectfullyrequest that you keep the contents of this mail confidential andrespectthe integrity of the information you come by as a result of this mail.I contacted you independently of our investigation and no one isinformed of this communication. I would like to intimate you withcertain facts that I believe would be of interest to you. In 2001, thesubject matter came to our bank to engage in business discussions withour private banking division. He informed us that he had a financialportfolio of Forty Eight Million Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States Dollars ($48,350,000.00 USD), which he wished to have us turnover (invest) on his behalf. I was the officer assigned to his case; Iwas made numerous suggestions in line with my duties as the de-factochief operations officer of the private banking sector, especiallygiventhe volume of funds he wished to put into our bank. We met on numerousoccasions prior to any investments being placed. I encouraged him toconsider various growth funds with prime ratings. The favored route inmy advice to customers is to start by assessing data on 6000traditionalstocks and bond managers and 2000 managers of alternative investments.Based on my advice, we spun the money around various opportunities andmade attractive margins for our first months of operation, the accruedprofit and interest stood at this point at over ten million UnitedStates Dollars, this margin was not the full potential of the fund buthe desired low risk guaranteed returns on investments.In mid 2002, he asked that the money be liquidated because he needed tomake an urgent investment requiring cash payments in here in the UnitedKingdom. He directed that I liquidate the funds and deposit it with asecurity firm here in London. I informed him that HSBC would have tomake special arrangements to have this done and in order not tocircumvent due process, the bank would have to make a 9.5 % deductionfrom the funds to cater for banking and statutory charges. Hecomplainedabout the charges but later came around when I explained to him thecomplexities of the task he was asking of us. Cash movement acrossboarders has become especially strict since the incidents of 9/11. Icontacted my affiliate in here in London and made the funds availabletothe security firm. I undertook all the processes and made sure Ifollowed his precise instructions to the letter and had the fundsdeposited at the London based security consultancy firm, CorporateSecurities Co. Corporate Securities Co is a specialist private firmthataccepts deposits from high net worth individuals and blue chipcorporations that handle valuable products or undertake transactionsthat need immediate access to cash. This small and highly privateorganization is familiar especially to the highly placed andwell-connected organizations. In line with Instructions, the money wasdeposited with Corporate Securities Co. The deceased told me he wantedthe money; there in anticipation of his arrival from Norway later thatweek. This was the last communication we had, this transpired around25th June 2003. In June last year, we got a call from CorporateSecurities Co informing us that the activity of that particularportfolio. This was an astounding position as far as I was concerned,given the fact that I managed the private banking sector I was the onlyone who knew about the deposit at Corporate Securities Co, and I couldnot understand why the deceased had not come forward to claim hisdeposit. I made futile efforts to locate the deceased. I immediatelypassed the task of locating him to the internal investigationsdepartment of HSBC. Four days later, information started to trickle in,apparently our client was dead. A person who suited his description wasdeclared dead of a heart attack in Cannes, South of France.We were soon enough able to identify the body and cause of death wasconfirmed. The bank immediately launched an investigation into possiblesurviving next of kin to alert about the situation and also to comeforward to claim his estate. If you are familiar with private bankingaffairs, those who patronize our services usually prefer anonymity, butalso some levels of detachment from conventional processes. In hisbio-data form, he listed no next of kin. In the field of privatebankingopening an account with us means no one will know of its existence,accounts are rarely held under a name; depositors use numbers and codesto make the accounts anonymous. This bank also gives the choice todepositors of having their mail sent to them or held at the bankitself,ensuring that there are no traces of the account and as I said, rarelydo they nominate next of kin.Private banking clients apart from not nominating next of kin alsousually in most cases leave wills in our care, in this case; thedeceased died without a testament .In line with our internal processesfor account holders who have passed away, we instituted our ownInvestigations in good faith to determine who should have right toclaimthe estate. This investigation has for the past months been unfruitful.We have scanned every continent and used our private investigationaffiliate companies to get to the root of the problem. It is thisinvestigation that resulted in my being furnished with your details asapossible relative of the deceased. My official capacity dictates that Iam the only party to supervise the investigation and the only party toreceive the results of the investigation. What this means, you beingthelast batch of names we have considered, is that our dear late fellowdied with no known or identifiable family member. This leaves me as theonly person with the full picture of what the prevailing situation isinrelation to the deposit and the late beneficiary of the deposit.According to practice, Corporate Securities Co will by the end of thisfinancial year broadcast a request for statements of claim to HSBC,failing to receive viable claims they will most probably revert thedeposit back to HSBC. This will result in the money entering the HSBCaccounting system and the portfolio will be out of my hands and out ofthe private banking division. This will not happen if I have my way.What I wish to relate t o you will smack of unethical practice but Iwant you to understand something. It is only an outsider to the bankingworld who finds the internal politics of the banking worldaberrational.The world of private banking especially is fraught with huge rewardsforthose who occupy certain offices and oversee certain portfolios. Youshould have begun by now to put together the general direction of whatIpropose. I alone have the deposit details and they will release thedeposit to no one unless I instruct them to do so. I alone know of theexistence of this deposit for as far as HSBC is concerned, thetransaction with our late customer concluded when I sent the funds tocorporate securities, all outstanding interactions in relation to thefile are just customer services and due process. Corporate SecuritiesCohas no single idea of what the history or nature of the deposit. Theyare simply awaiting instructions to release the deposit to any partythat comes forward. This is the situation. This bank has spent greatamounts of money trying to track this mans family; they haveinvestigated for months and have found no family. The investigation hascome to an end. My proposal; you share similar details to the latefellow; I am prepared to place you in a position to instruct CorporateSecurities Co to release the deposit to you as the closest survivingrelation. Upon receipt of the deposit, I am prepared to share the moneywith you in half. That is: I will simply nominate you as the next ofkinand have them release the deposit to you. We share the proceeds 50/50.Iwould have gone ahead to ask the funds be released to me, but thatwould have drawn a straight line to me and my involvement in claimingthe deposit. I assure you that I could have the deposit released to youwithin a few days. I will simply inform the bank of the final closingofthe file relating to the deceased I will then officially communicatewith Corporate Securities Co and instruct them to release the deposittoyou. With these two things: all is done. The alternative would be forusto have Corporate Sec unities Co direct the funds to another bank withyou as account holder. This way there will be no need for you to thinkof receiving the money from Corporate Securities Co. We can fine-tunethis based on our interactions. I am aware of the consequences of thisproposal. I ask that if you find no interest in this project that youshould discard this mail. I ask that you do not be vindictive anddestructive. If my offer is of no appeal to you, delete this messageandforget I ever contacted you. Do not destroy my career because you donotapprove of my proposal.You may not know this but people like myself who have made tidy sumsoutof comparable situations run the whole private banking sector. I am nota criminal and what I do, I do not find against good conscience, thismay be hard for you to understand, but the dynamics of my industrydictates that I make this move. Such opportunities only come ones' wayonce in a lifetime. I cannot let this chance pass me by, for once Ifindmyself in total control of my destiny. These chances won’t pass me by.Iask that you do not destroy my chance, if you will not work with me letme know and let me move on with my life but do not destroy me. I am afamily man and this is an opportunity to provide them with newopportunities. There is a reward for this project and it is a task wellworth undertaking. I have evaluated the risks and the only risk I havehere is from you refusing to work with me and alerting my bank. I amtheonly one who knows of this situation, good fortune has blessed you witha name that has planted you into the center of relevance in my life.Letshare the blessing. If you find yourself able to work with me, contactme through this same email account. If you give me positive signals, Iwill initiate this process towards a conclusion. I wish to inform youthat should you contact me via official channels; I will deny knowingyou and about this project. I repeat, I do not want you contacting methrough my official phone lines nor do I want you contacting me throughmy official email account. Contact me only through the numbers I willprovide for you and also through this email address. I do not want anydirect link between you and me. My official lines are not secure linesas they are periodically monitored to assess our level of customer carein line with our Total Quality Management Policy.Please observe this instruction religiously. Please, again, note I am afamily man, I have a wife and children. I send you this mail notwithouta measure of fear as to what the consequences, but I know within methatnothing ventured is nothing gained and that success and riches nevercome easy or on a platter of gold. This is the one truth I have learntfrom my private banking clients. Do not betray my confidence. If we canbe of one accord, we should plan a meeting, soon.
Thank you so much foryour time. I look forward to hearing from you soonest.I await your response
.John Michael.
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