Prosecutors in U.S. are investigating Deutsche Bank and other global scale banks on suspicion of doing business worth billions of dollars through U.S. subsidiaries with Iran, Sudan and other countries subject to international economic sanctions, according to the New York Times.
The investigation is part of a series of ongoing cases in the U.S. since 2009 against international financial institutions suspected of abusing a “loophole” in U.S. law which allowed, before 2008, money transfers for the benefit of Iranian banks and companies.
Contacted by the New York Times, a spokesman for Deutsche Bank declined to comment, but mentioned that the German bank decided in 2007 that “it shall not engage in new transactions with entities in countries such as Iran, Syria, Sudan and Korea North, and it will stop the ongoing business as quickly as possible”.
Since 2009, the Justice Department, Treasury Department and prosecutors in Manhattan indicted five foreign banks, including Barclays and Credit Suisse, suspected of running billions of dollars through U.S. subsidiaries, servicing customers in Iran, Cuba and North Korea , countries subject to economic sanctions. Investigations against the five banks have led to settlements by which financial institutions have paid significant penalties of hundreds of millions of dollars. U.S. banks can not make legal transactions with Iran, so they avoided business that would have exposed them to such accusations.
American bank Standard Chartered will pay $340 million to end a similar investigation after authorities accused the New York institution that it would have run through its subsidiary $250 billion for the benefit of Iranian banks and companies.
In similar cases previous the highest fine was paid by the Dutch group ING, which agreed in June to pay $619 million to end the investigation. Credit Suisse paid $536 million. HSBC is also suspected of violating sanctions against Iran, and the Mexican division of the bank was fined in July $27.5 million dollars for “closing eyes” to money laundering.
Investigation of Deutsche Bank is in its initial stage and so far there is no suspicion that the bank has done business with Iran through its U.S. subsidiary after 2008, when legislation was modified to block such transactions, according to sources quoted by the New York Times.
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