After my intro, several steemians requested I post my account for how I robbed banks, here are the gruesome details:
The seventeenth of september of 2008, two days after of the collapse of Lehman Brothers which memorialized the USA mortage crisis to the whole banking system, worlwide, the streets of Catalonia was full of 200000 copies of a magazine with a very appropiated title “Crise”
The question in the frontpage was very appealing:
In the central pages, of this 16 pages unique publication, the expressive title got the attention of the country.
Some key sentences in the article sumarized the aim of the action:
"I am writing down this pages to announce that I have expropriated 492,000 euros to 39 banks through 68 loan deals. If we include interest on arrears, the present amount of debt is over 500,000 euros which I will not pay.
It has been an individual disobedience action towards banking that I have carried out deliberately to denounce the bank system and to use the money for supporting initiatives which alert from systemic crisis that we are starting to live and which intend to build an alternative society”
“Achieving 492,000 euros with no bank guarantees in an economic downturn context. It shows how the banking promotes indebtedness from families over any control or over any risks contingency plans and common sense”
After having worked on this plan since the summer of 2005, the moment of using the surprise factor to appear in the scenes arrived, on september 2008.
Meanwhile hundreds of volunteers were distributing Crise on the streets. Around one hundred activists knew of this action prior to distribution and another 500 hundred, realized at same time – most of them were overjoyed after being informed that something radical and thought provoking was going to be presented in the magazine.
The plan worked as envisioned. News hit the streets fast as it was covered on live morning TV shows with several interviewers eager to interview me. At the time I had gone into hiding, then eventually to Sao Paolo and spoke with media there.
You can see here an example on how The Guardian reproduced the news the day after:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/sep/19/spain
Most of the banks with license to offer credits in Catalonia, were affected, but they were quite surprised. Some banks were even in disbelief so much that they initially reported "it is not true", correcting it the next day.
I went on to describe how the plan was carried out in parts of the article:
“After some research and attempts, in the spring of 2006, I started going ahead definitely with this idea; I was making various banks, savings banks and finantial credit establishments think that I wanted to refurbish my flat or buy a new car. In some cases, I was doing that by using a company I created with the aim of justifying certain investments as the purchase of audiovisual materials for a production company.
The advantages of asking for a loan by a company are that debts as a company, even when it is a sole shareholder company, do not get registered in your personal credit history, so you can always increase your debts indefinitely without being detected by CIRBE (information system about debts from the Bank of Spain)”
I had found two more important loopholes within the CIRBE system that helped me acquire most of the funds. One was that loans of less than 6000 euros didn't get reported to the CIRBE system and the other was that there was a 2 month delay in reporting loans greater than 6000 to banks. So this was the plan, I wanted to go after the big loans, but I had to execute this in stages. First stage was a long and grueling one. I had to establish solvency/good track record with the banks, which meant I had to simulate salaries. So I proceeded to take out many under 6000 euro loans from various banks over a 2 year period, kept transfering those amounts to the target banks as a salaries, built a good history. Once I had established a good rapport with the target banks, I knew I had 2 months to execute my plan to take out loans greater than 6000, and so I did. I was able to take out 300000 euros in 2 months, the final phase of my plan was complete.
“These loans were applied without any guarantee neither from another person nor from any properties, just by my signature and an invented occupation with a great false payroll that was making them believe I was earning enough money to cover the financing by far. The crux of the matter is banks have no way of checking wether the payroll one presents to them is real or not, as long as the company and the person really exist.
I also had to present them some right bank statements that I could get by circulating money from company accounts to personal accounts through payroll transfers in order to pretend some personal deposits, which banks were believing at all. In some cases, they were asking me for a job contract, Income Tax Return or work history. They were asking my companies for the quarterly VAT return and, when they were older than one year, for the Corporate Income Tax.
All this can be properly presented: sometimes with real information and when it is not possible, with a printer, a photocopier, scissors and sellotape it works wonders! “
Here's a comic with a summary:
This declaration also included a call to action” saying:
“because there are some debts you could not pay and you are already in the banks' defaulters lists... why don't you contact me to set up a defaulters union? There are more people registered in defaulters lists than in unemployment lists...and living without checking accounts is some kind of art which deserves to be shared!
What I am going to do from now on”
The days following, a multitude of defaulters, begun to organize themselves - in the forums Crise collective provided - about mutual aid of debtors, becoming the first movement of that kind in Spain time before the mortgaged platform was launched.
This is how to full story was published:
You can get the full pdf version of Crise here (16 pages):
http://pdfsr.com/pdf/crise.-english-version
Different resources had been added over time to give more detail regarding this action.
One of them was a handbook:
This book was created by Nuria Guell and with the participation also of Lucio Urtubia”
(get it here: http://www.mon3y.us/nuria_guell.html )
As a part of this teaching process Lucio and me, did a conference in a squat in Barcelona
you can see my explanation here with all the details:
Much later (march 2014) there was a documentary "Come back" published that had witness accounts of different people who participated in this action. This is the piece that goes into more detail about how the money was distributed.
Next time I could focus more on other aspects of the story, (for example: what happened when I came back to spain in 2009 etc..) but this post has been more focused on the banking action itself.
8 years later, and still remain accused for the same charges, I mentioned to the S-17 publication. Since 2013 I remain in hiding again. No money has ever been returned, and no one else has been charged with a crime related to this action.
After all of these years, new significant initiatives have been born, with the same vision that mobilized me, years ago. Look for example in this article:
http://www.vice.com/read/be-the-bank-you-want-to-see-in-the-world-0000626-v22n4
If I were to do this all over again, I can confidently say that I would. The risk I took was worth it despite the consequences as it has been a significant catalyst for achieving radical social change over the last 10 years.
Henry D. Thoreau, said: "Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison" I would like to add, life in exile is still better because no one can stop you from building the "just world" that you carry in your heart