Concussion Investigation: Big Bankers Ignore $ 2 Trillion Money Laundering

JP Morgan Chase Bank is one of five global banks that were “named” in the journalist investigation under ICIJ – Photo: SKY NEWS

According to the television station Sky News (UK), some of the world’s largest banks, including JPMorgan, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank, and Bank of New York Mellon, allegedly allowed money laundering offenses to run into trillions of dollars. in a recently released investigative report based on a large block of internal documents leaked by the US government.

Specifically, more than 2,100 pages of suspicious activity reports (called “SARs”) related to more than $ 2 trillion in banking transactions were disclosed on the site. BuzzFeed News and share with the International Federation of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

These reports, in addition to the more than 17,600 other records that the ICIJ has on hand, show that senior bankers have “turned a blind eye” by allowing money launderers to freely transfer money between accounts. money, even though the money is known to have been generated or used for an illegal purpose.

The RAS reports include information on suspicious banking transactions from 1999 to 2017 leaked from the United States Financial Crimes Network (FinCEN), an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury that specializes in solving the problem. money laundering.

Two weeks ago, FinCEN warned that the media was preparing to release information about documents they had obtained illegally. Last week, this agency also asked for public comments to improve the effectiveness of the anti-money laundering system in the US.

According to the ICIJ, the amount of around $ 2 billion in suspicious transactions identified in the leaked documents has represented less than 0.02% of the total amount estimated in more than 12 million other reporting pages of the same type. that financial institutions submitted to FinCEN between 2011-2017.

Among the main conclusions drawn from the investigation report, the ICIJ argued that “the large banks transferred money to people they could not identify, and in many cases did not report transfers. The money was suspect until many years after the incident.

The ICIJ also questioned the responsibility of law enforcement in the area of ​​combating money laundering when sanctions and deterrence of criminal prosecution against banks have failed to discourage operations. illegal payments.

News page BuzzFeed News describes the leaked documents that expose the truth: “Western banking giants have transferred trillions of dollars in shady transactions, enriching themselves and shareholders while inciting operations.” of terrorism, dishonesty and drug crimes “.