("Quid coniuratio est?")
INTERVIEW WITH SHERMAN SKOLNICK -- MARCH 2, 1995
I spoke by phone with Sherman Skolnick of the Citizens' Committee to Clean-up the Courts [CCCC]. Here is my transcription of that interview.
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[Phone rings]
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Yeah?
CONSPIRACY NATION:
Uh, Sherman Skolnick?
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Yeah.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
Hi. This is Brian Redman. I talked with you a few days ago?
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Yeah, right.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
O.K. I got the Barings Bank thing went out on the Internet, O.K.
I'm also wondering if you have, maybe, 5 minutes, I could ask you
some questions?
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
I'd be glad.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
O.K. What I've done...
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
By the way, the message was highly detailed. I hope it didn't
cause you any trouble to transcribe it.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
No. As a matter of fact, I... I printed out the transcription and
it's in the mail, O.K.? So you should be gettin' it... mmm,
tomorrow or Saturday.
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Thank you.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
O.K. Uh, I've been runnin' around a lot, you know, so, I...
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Thank you for your efforts.
I have been talking to people all over [the] United States and elsewhere, gathering information on this. I... You know, I know a lot of people.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
Um-hmm [understands].
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
What kind of questions do you have?
CONSPIRACY NATION:
O.K. All right, well, number one, O.K. Let me just kind of throw
something out at ya: I got this... You see, what I, the way I had
been recording your recorded messages before was I had a micro-
cassette recorder that I would place right up to the ear of the
phone to record the message. And I, my idea was, I went to Radio
Shack and they told me that there was this kind of a gizmo, O.K.?
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Yeah, right. It costs about $21 and you plug it directly into the
modular phone line and then into your machine, and it records
directly from the line without any hum or problem.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
O.K. So that's what I did. In fact, I'm recordin' ya right now,
if that's O.K.?
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Yeah, fine.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
O.K. So that's...
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
...checking out. Better check out, check a little bit if you're
using it for the first time.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
You know what I did, I tested it on your recorded message, and it
seemed to work O.K., so... And I just figured, well, I'll do like
a 5 or 10 minute interview and if it turns out O.K. then I could
just transcribe the interview and put it out on the Internet.
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Yeah, certainly.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
O.K. I just wanted to, you know, make sure you understood that,
you know, all that stuff.
O.K. A few questions that came up, all right, was with the Barings Bank, uh -- it's a relatively small bank. You know, like a billion dollar failure...
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Well that's not accurate.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
O.K.
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
The total estimated, or expected losses may well exceed over $10
billion. And to understand that, you have to consult with experts
on derivatives.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
Um-hmm [understands].
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
In unwinding a derivative trade that has gone bad, it depends on
the instruments that are involved. Here what was involved is the
price of yen and related matters. While they're unwinding these
transactions, the yen... um, not the yen (excuse me), the Nikei
Index may go down 2,000 points. And if that occurs, as some in
the securities industry expect (although they haven't been asked
about it or quoted in the financial press), if that occurs, that
the [Nikei] Index goes down 2,000 points, then the loss of the
derivative transactions that have gone sour will be very close to
10 billion dollars. Not one billion, and not 900 million,
but $10 billion.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
O.K. 'Cause there...
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
It depends on the unwinding of the trades. Because the
derivatives transactions in question here were highly complicated
and are tied in with the Nikei Index.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
O.K. Because there was some question. See, I get feedback, all
right? This thing goes out to a lot of readers and I get some
feedback from them. And it occurred to me that, now I had a
chance to, you know, explore some of these issues more in-depth
and kind of... 'Cause they had a lot of questions. I get a lot
of...
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
I've already talked off-the-record with highly-skilled people in
this field.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
O.K.
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
And they have explained it to me.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
O.K.
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Understand something: um, how can I explain this quickly? As a
result of our efforts for over 30-some odd years in investigating
judicial corruption, over the years we've found out that such
corruption involves banks that are owned and operated by judges
and others. As a result, we became, we have become very adept at
financial research. And we have sources all over. And we have
talked to those sources, and they estimate that the loss, when
the Barings Bank transactions get unwound, would be close to $10
billion.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
O.K. Along the line of sources, I know that you can't reveal
these people, but I'm thinking more in terms of, uh you had
mentioned before that you read, for example, the Wall Street
Journal. Are there other sources out there, as for reading, that
you would recommend?
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Well I would find it interesting, in the future, what the
Economist, which now is trying to get a larger readership in
the United States, that's a...
CONSPIRACY NATION:
That's a London...
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
...that's a London publication [CN -- a magazine], what their
next issue on this question may deal with. They may take a purely
British point of view, or they may take a point of view
sympathetic to the Queen's interest in Barings. Although the
Queen, also, has a stock brokerage -- I believe they're called
COATS(?) -- that handles, traditionally, a lot of the business of
the British monarchy.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
O.K. So the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, there's...
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Oh, you mean to get a clear idea of what's going on?
CONSPIRACY NATION:
Yeah. Just some of the stuff you read.
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
...none of these publications, in my opinion, are gonna tell the
unvarnished truth about what is involved. And I can give the
reasons for that.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
Because they all have their own special interests behind 'em?
Or...
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Well... Let me just list a few of the problems. One of the
largest securities firms in the world, Nomura Securities, N-o-m-
u-r-a, reportedly is, and has been, in worse financial condition
than Barings. However, the Bank of Japan, and others, may bail
them out. But some brokerages are quietly "red-flagging" them,
which is a trade term for avoiding somebody. For example, when
some brokerages became aware that there was a problem in Mexico,
they "red-flagged" Mexico. That's the way they tell their troops,
"No transactions with them" -- you see the point?
CONSPIRACY NATION:
Yeah.
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Likewise, Goldman-Sachs has come within a hair, reportedly, of
going under in respect to the "Mexican problem" -- the
devaluation and the expected defaults by Mexican corporations.
So the financial press, to help the established interests, wish to play down the Barings thing as much as they possibly can as a, just another "minor matter". Which I don't believe it is.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
O.K. There's a newsletter called Strategic Investment, put out
by Lord Rees-Mogg...
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Right! I read it. I get copies. I don't subscribe, but friends of
mine send me copies from time to time.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
Same... Yeah. Same with me.
I uh... In their latest issue, they're talkin' about this thing about how Clinton's puttin' up what they call a "Berlin Wall" to keep dollars from fleeing the country. Have you heard anything about that?
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Well what I know that's related to it is, the dollar is hitting,
more and more, new, post-war lows. And the reason for that is
that expert traders in the dollar are expecting the possibility
that the Deutschmark will be the new, reserve currency of the
world, rather than the U.S. dollar. And that is based on
information that Clinton and his wife are "going to the wall"
[i.e. will face some degree of justice] soon.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
O.K.
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
In other words, well, there's been leaks from the investigation
by the independent prosecutor which supports the idea that the
First Lady is, in the near future, most likely gonna be indicted.
And that will put a tremendous cloud over the Clinton White
House. And so, in advance of that, the dollar is being dumped --
let's put it that way.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
O.K. I'm just basically, for myself, I'm watchin' the Wall
Street Journal myself and just noticin' the dollar/yen thing,
how that's...
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Notice the split in the Wall Street Journal: those that work on
the editorial page continue with their detailed items, which are
more news items than editorials, about Whitewater. The other
day they had a, um...
CONSPIRACY NATION:
I saw it. Yeah.
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
...a front-page story that "pooh-poohed" Whitewater. The
editorials are closer to the truth than the front-page story --
which is a different faction within the Wall Street Journal. (I
know a lot about the back office politics of the Wall Street
Journal.)
CONSPIRACY NATION:
O.K. Yeah, like I say, this, I'm gonna have to keep this
relatively brief. I mean, there's a lot of things...
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Well then cut out those parts that you feel are not relevant.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
No, it's all relevant, 'til now. I'm just sayin' that I have to
kind of move along. You know, I'm lookin' for, at this point,
maybe a 10, 15 minute interview. Because I plan on transcribin'
the whole thing.
[...to be continued...]
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