Since 2014, Dutch lawyer and whistleblower Hester Bais has been urging authorities to halt the massive international bank fraud in OTC derivatives and collateral shell games. As a result of their shenanigans, banks ended up under water on collateral to the tune of €200 billion in the Netherlands, €400 billion in Germany, €320 billion in France, €300 billion in the United Kingdom-and trillions of euros globally. Hester consistently reports her findings to authorities in the Netherlands and beyond, including the SEC (since 2018) and CFTC (since 2023).

In delving into this racket, Hester discovered an international, pre-crisis blueprint that, since 2007, has been rolled out by the likes of central banks, investment banks and asset managers such as Goldman Sachs, ING and BlackRock. After the Lehman Brothers collapse in 2008, the G20 declared the start of a new multipolar “Bretton Woods 2.0”. Trillions of dollars in collateral have already been surreptitiously reused and centralized worldwide to mask the weakness of the banks. This centralization of collateral is the foundation for a new financial system based on distributed ledger technology, where, starting in 2024, leading currencies and crypto assets can be traded. Sadly, the massive costs of today’s dysfunctional financial system will be largely passed on to the next generation. The story of Hester Bais has been chronicled by Wink Sabée.