Lanny Breuer and DOJ Announce Big Case (No Arrests)

Hat tip PJ Media

Ed Driscoll in PJ Media has an article about that big announcement made by Lanny Breuer of the Justice Department about a settlement made with HSBC Holdings and HSBC Bank as a result of their lax anti-money laundering safeguards with Mexico.


http://pjmedia.com/eddriscoll/2012/12/11/hsbc/

I belong to a website for former narcotic agents. Last night, we all received a copy of the below article.


WASHINGTON – DEA and other federal officials announced today that HSBC Holdings plc (HSBC Group) – a United Kingdom corporation headquartered in London – and HSBC Bank USA N.A. (HSBC Bank USA) (together, HSBC) – a federally chartered banking corporation headquartered in McLean, Va. – have agreed to forfeit $1.256 billion and enter into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department for HSBC’s violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA). According to court documents, HSBC Bank USA violated the BSA by failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program and to conduct appropriate due diligence on its foreign correspondent account holders. The HSBC Group violated IEEPA and TWEA by illegally conducting transactions on behalf of customers in Cuba, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Burma – all countries that were subject to sanctions enforced by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) at the time of the transactions. 

The announcement was made by Lanny A. Breuer, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Loretta Lynch, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; and John Morton, Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); DEA Special Agent in Charge Brian Crowell, along with numerous other law enforcement and regulatory partners. The New York County District Attorney’s Office worked with the Justice Department on the sanctions portion of the investigation. Treasury Undersecretary David S. Cohen and Comptroller of the Currency Thomas J. Curry also joined in today’s announcement.

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I may get a nasty gram from the site's manager because I sort of broke the no-political-comment protocol by responding as follows:

"Lanny Breuer? The same Lanny Breuer who is up to his neck in Fast and Furious? Lanny Breuer should be fired and indicted."