(CBS News) As bank slogans go, they don’t come worse than this: “The preferred financial institution of drug cartels and money
launderers.”
That’s a quote Tuesday in a U.S. Department of Justice report about HSBC Holdings, one of the largest banks in the world. To avoid criminal prosecution, HSBC admitted Tuesday that it laundered more than $800 million for Mexican drug cartels, and covered up illegal transactions for Burma, Iran, Sudan, Cuba, and Libya.
The British bank will pay $1.9 billion to the U.S. government, the largest such fine in history.
It’s a case that has everything — everything accept an arrest. That struck some as odd, because in 80 pages of court documents, the bank admits to almost going out of its way to act as a financial clearing house for international pariahs and drug dealers.
- Feds outline HSBC ties to laundering, drug money
- HSBC chief apologizes for lax controls
- HSBC legal costs rise by $1.1B, shares slump
Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said: “HSBC is paying a heavy price for its conduct, and under the terms of today’s agreement, if the bank fails to comply with the agreement in any way, any way at all, we reserve the right as the government to fully prosecute it.”…
http://dailybail.com/home/hsbc-preferred-bank-of-drug-cartels-money-launderers
In the video at the above link a Kneegrow provides an Orwellian explanation for the unthinking. If no individual or group of individuals was found to have committed a criminal act, how will the government execute its reserved right to fully prosecute??? Whatever happened to RICO?
Speak Your Mind