“Maxi-recycling of 2 trillion trillion”. The banking sector is shaking: three European institutions involved

Some of the largest banks in the world would have allowed them to launder a river of dirty money, astronomical sums of money spent for years by the largest international banking institutions, which for the benefit of their business would not have stopped this illicit flow that would have a total value of about 2 trillion dollars. The complaint comes from the American daily BuzzFeed News and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, already at the center of the revelations about the Panama Papers scandal, who are convinced that they have documents in their hands that would prove this accusation, called FinCEN Files. The survey singles out the index in particular to five major financial institutions: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of New York Mellon and Europeans HSBC, Standard Chartered and Deutsche Bank.

The infringing transactions allegedly allowed the registry to enter the US financial system. Despite suspicious activity being reported to FinCen, the financial police of the US Department of the Treasury. This action is taken when financial institutions and Credit officers believe that a customer is using their services for possible criminal activity. But the reports, which came in between 1999 and 2017, would have had no effect and the supposed dirty money would have returned to circulation without much hiccup. This raises my suspicion that top banking might have known that scammers were moving money between accounts and knew that those funds had been criminally generated or used. Even some Russian oligarchs appear to have used the banks to avoid the sanctions that should have prevented them from taking the money to the West.

The leak that ended up in the newspapers casts doubt on high-level personalities from the world of American politics and finance. Among these there are also Paul Manafort, the strategist who led the presidential election campaign of Donald trump of 2016 for several months. According to reporters conducting the investigation, banks began reporting activities related to Manafort as suspicious starting in 2012. In 2017, investment bank JP Morgan submitted a report on wire transfers worth more than 300 million. dollars that involved a Cyprus-based shell company that had done business with Manafort. Manafort’s attorney has yet to respond to requests for response.

But most of the research focuses on the responsibilities of banking institutions and also points the finger at some big names in European finance. Britain’s Barclays and HSBC were hit by the press disclosures on the stock exchange and today lost around 4% each of their share value, while compatriots at Standard Chartered came away with -3%, The Guardian. .

HSBC and Standard Chartered are among the five banks that appear most frequently in published documents. HSBC bank says that beginning in 2012 “it has embarked on a multi-year journey to review its ability to combat financial crime in more than 60 jurisdictions.” Their representatives specified that at the end of 2017, the US Department of Justice “ruled that HSBC has fulfilled all its obligations” and that the UK bank “is a much safer institution than in 2012.” .

Deutsche Bank’s involvement, which reportedly made “billions in dirty money” pass unmolested, is also causing a stir. The investigation reveals that the institution’s administrators have had direct knowledge over years of serious breaches that left the bank vulnerable to money laundering activities. The bank has already reacted, noting that the disclosures “are well known” by regulators and affirms that it has allocated “significant resources to strengthen its controls” and fulfill “its responsibilities and obligations.”

Deutsche problems – reports BuzzFeed: They were so egregious that they led Bank of America to submit a confidential notice directly to the US government. When they went to the London branch of the German institute, Bank of America employees attempted to discuss concerns about the alleged money laundering. Russian money. But even before they could explain the facts, they were silenced by a Deutsche manager who allegedly interrupted their meeting and asked them to leave the building.