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Secret US government documents reveal that JP Morgan Chase, HSBC, and other major banks have defied crackdown on money laundering, transferring large amounts of illicit origin to shady accounts and criminal networks that “spread chaos and undermine democracy around the world, “says the international mega-investigation that involved more than 400 journalists, from 88 countries and 110 media, including Brazil. The information can be found on the website of the Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) – Consortium Investigative Journalists International.
In total, the ICIJ analysis concluded, the documents identify more than $ 2 trillion in transactions between 1999 and 2017 that have been flagged by financial institution officials as possible money laundering or other criminal activity, including $ 514 billion at JPMorgan and US $ 1.3 trillion in Deutsche Bank.
The records refer to bank customers in more than 170 countries. For this reason, the ICIJ coordinated a network of 400 journalists from 110 vehicles in 88 countries to investigate suspicious operations. In Brazil, they participate in the Época project, the Piauí magazine and the Poder360 website. Other countries include the French daily Le Monde, the British BBC network and Argentina’s La Nación.
The BuzzFeed News website obtained the confidential documents and shared them with the ICIJ, the world’s largest collaborative network of investigative journalists, responsible for reporting such as the Panama Papers and the Bribery Division.
The investigation arose from the leak of secret documents of the Department of the Treasury of the United States – Fincen (Network to combat financial crimes). According to information shared by the ICIJ, records show that five global banks (JPMorgan, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Deutsche Bank and Bank of New York Mellon) “continued to profit from powerful and dangerous players, even after US officials fined these financial institutions for past failures to contain dirty money flows. ”
“US agencies charged with enforcing money laundering laws rarely prosecute megabanks that violate the law, and the actions taken by the authorities seriously affect the avalanche of looted money that spreads through the international financial system,” he says the International Consortium Investigative Journalists, on its page.
In some cases, banks continued to move illicit funds even after being warned by US officials that they would face criminal prosecution “if they did not stop dealing with gangsters, scammers or corrupt regimes.” According to the website, JPMorgan, the largest bank based in the United States, moved money to people and companies linked to the massive withdrawal of public funds in Malaysia, Venezuela and Ukraine, leaked documents reveal.
“The bank transferred more than $ 1 billion to the fugitive financier behind the 1MDB scandal in Malaysia, records show, and more than $ 2 million to a young energy mogul company who was accused of misleading the government. Venezuela and help cause power outages that paralyzed much of the country, “says the website.
According to the consortium, JPMorgan also processed more than $ 50 million in payments over a decade to Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager. “The bank handled at least $ 6.9 million in transactions in Manafort in the 14 months following his resignation from the campaign amid a wave of money laundering and corruption allegations stemming from his work with a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine . ”, The consortium points out.
In response to the Época report, JPMorgan stated that it is legally prohibited to speak about customers or transactions. The institution said it has assumed a “leadership role” in pursuing “proactive intelligence-led investigations” and in developing “innovative techniques to help combat financial crime.”
The magazine says in the report that, in 2012, HSBC signed a so-called deferred agreement to suspend prosecution with the prosecution and admitted to laundering at least $ 881 million for Latin American drug cartels.
Under the settlement, HSBC paid $ 1.9 billion. In return, the government agreed to drop the criminal charges against the bank and file them after five years if HSBC kept its promise to combat the flow of dirty money.
During this five-year trial period, as FinCEN records show, HSBC continued to move money to questionable characters.
Still, the government allowed HSBC to announce in December 2017 that it had “met all of its commitments” under the agreement and that prosecutors were permanently dismissing the criminal charges.
In a statement to ICIJ, HSBC declined to answer questions about specific customers or transactions. HSBC said the ICIJ information is “historical and out of date” after the end of its five-year agreement in the postponed process.
