$951M may not seem like a lot of money from a westerner's perceptive - but that ...

toth · on April 25, 2016

0.5% of the GDP of US ($17 trillion) is $85 billion, not 1 trillion.

And I don't know many westerners that would say that $951M is not a lot of money :)

lisper · on April 25, 2016

I dunno, I'm a Westerner and $951M still seems like real money to me.

musesum · on April 25, 2016

All but $81M was recovered.

decimate · on April 25, 2016

Just goes to show, if your highly illegal target is roughly 100 Million, be sure to reach for like ten times that amount and try to grab an absurd 1 Billion.

MichaelGG · on April 25, 2016

How is it not all recoverable? Are there still banks that are non cooperative?

aianus · on April 25, 2016

Maybe they withdrew some of it in cash. I don't see why some foreign bank should be on the hook once the funds have cleared and been withdrawn by the thieves.

MichaelGG · on April 25, 2016

Just seems like it'd be hard to make off with significant amounts of cash. They must be really running.

imglorp · on April 25, 2016

Here in the West, we elect our criminals, who use corrupt procurement, bribery, and other frictions to suck many trillions from our GDP. Not to worry, though: the debt payments on this kind of policy will shortly eclipse the thefts and legitimate spending.

* http://www.transparency-usa.org/who-we-are/mission-history/

* http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Military-waste-under-fire...

* http://cagw.org/media/press-releases/taxpayer-watchdog-ident... federal-government-waste

* http://reason.com/blog/2014/12/02/federal-debt-soared-above-...