In the wake of the HSBC money laundering scandal - where Mexican Drug Cartels, 9/11 hijackers, and Iran laundered money through the bank - other bank's activities have been investigated. Not surprisingly more shenanigans with rogue states were found.
From Reuters:
A New York bank regulator's broadside against Standard Chartered Plc over transactions tied to Iran left investors and the bank questioning the action, which on Tuesday wiped $17 billion off the bank's value.
The White House signaled its strong interest in the case, saying the U.S. government takes alleged violations of economic sanctions "extremely seriously."...
"Sanctions violations are something that this administration takes extremely seriously and has a strong record of action to this end," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters. "The Treasury Department remains in close contact with both federal and state authorities on this matter."
But hey these are the
Masters Of The Universe who is the White House or a State Bank Regulator to tell them what to do?
New York DFS Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky, in his order, described how officials at Standard Chartered had debated whether to continue its Iranian dealings, which he said exposed the U.S. banking system to terrorists, drug traffickers and corrupt states.
He said that on October 2006, the top official for business in the Americas warned in a "panicked message" that the Iranian dealings could cause "catastrophic reputational damage" and "serious criminal liability."
A group executive director in London shot back, according to a New York branch officer quoted in the order: "You f---ing Americans. Who are you to tell us, the rest of the world, that we're not going to deal with Iranians."
The reply showed "obvious contempt for U.S. banking regulations," the order said.
Contempt fits.
According to Lawsky Standard Chartered conducted 60,000 secret transactions over nearly a decade worth approximately $250 billion - generating hundreds of millions of dollars in fees for the bank.
And for those playing at home - laundering money for Iran (besides helping a regime under sanctions pursuing nuclear weapons) means laundering money for Iranian sponsored terrorist groups such as Hezbollah.
Also, according to the Joint Chief Chairman Admiral Mullen, Iran was directly involved in killing U.S Soldiers in Iraq. From CNN:
And Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen said any potential agreement with Iraq for U.S. forces to stay on beyond the end-of-the-year deadline must confront the issue of Iranian involvement.
"Iran is playing an out-sized role right now," Mullen said at a lunchtime conversation with journalists at the Pentagon. "Iran is very directly supporting extremist Shia groups (in Iraq), which are killing our troops."
So HSBC and Standard Chartered were laundering money for Iran when Iran was helping kill Americans. And America is willing to
kill its own citizens without a trial if they are supporting Anti-American militancy. This is a war right? So I have to ask...
Where are the drone strikes?