# CIA backdoor banking

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "CIA backdoor banking," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-cia-backdoor-banking/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's answer to a question about the intelligence community opening Western capital markets to sanctioned groups — that the CIA's interests frequently diverge from the national interest, that its friends are often hostile to the State Department and the White House, and that it will arrange backdoor banking, investment and loans to keep those outlaws going.*

- **Question put to him:** The intelligence role in shadow banking for sanctioned groups
- **His caveat:** "A lot of it is probably still classified"
- **The mechanism:** Backdoor banking, investment and loans
- **The purpose:** "Just to keep these outlaws going"
- **His illustration:** The station chief in Narcos

**CIA backdoor banking** is [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s answer to a viewer question about the intelligence community's role in making Western capital markets accessible to sanctioned groups through shadow banking.

## The caveat

Kiriakou called it a good question and entered a limit before answering: *"it's a complicated... I think a lot of it is probably still classified, but think of it this way."*[1]

## The premise

What followed was a general claim about institutional alignment. *"Not only not only do the interests of the CIA sometimes diverge from the greater national interests of the United States, but they frequently diverge."*[1]

His shorthand for it is a scene from the Netflix series *Narcos*: just as the DEA agents are about to take Pablo Escobar, the CIA station chief arrives and wrecks the operation. *"Well, the reason that's in the the series is because that's how it is in real life."*[2]

## The mechanism

From there Kiriakou described the practical consequence. *"The CIA doesn't really care what the law is, even what US law is. And oftentimes the people that they're dealing with or the governments that they're dealing with are that are friendly to the CIA are actually hostile to the State Department, to the White House, to US foreign policy."*[2]

*"And so the CIA will arrange backdoor banking, backdoor investment, backdoor loans just to keep these outlaws going. So often times the CIA is doing something that is both illegal and antithetical to American foreign policy."*[3]

The pattern of two American departments backing opposing parties in the same country is described separately at [rival factions in Libya](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/rival-factions-in-libya).

## See also

- [Rival factions in Libya](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/rival-factions-in-libya)
- [Central Intelligence Agency](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia)
- [Afghan heroin policy](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/afghan-heroin-policy)

## Sources

1. DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “France In Crisis” (2025-09-08), at 1:05:23. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDOspNoh9IA&t=3923s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-08-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-john-kiriakou-fra/
2. DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “France In Crisis” (2025-09-08), at 1:05:55. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDOspNoh9IA&t=3955s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-08-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-john-kiriakou-fra/
3. DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “France In Crisis” (2025-09-08), at 1:06:26. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDOspNoh9IA&t=3986s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-08-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-john-kiriakou-fra/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-cia-backdoor-banking/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt