What do major banks, Mexican drug cartels, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Burma have to fear from wounded US vets and families of soldiers killed in Iraq?
"In 2012, HSBC entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with US regulators for violating “federal laws by laundering money from Mexican drug trafficking and processing banned transactions on behalf of Iran, Libya, Sudan and Burma,” USA Today reported.
"The bank ended up paying $1.9 billion to make the charges go away: It was just one of 'several deals US authorities… reached with other banks over similar allegations' in recent years.
"The settlement represented less than ten percent of the bank’s pre-tax profits that year, according to its annual report.
"But on Monday, a new wrinkle was added when HSBC Group was one of five major banks named in a lawsuit filed in a New York court by wounded US vets — and families of soldiers killed in Iraq — under the novel theory that the financial institutions indirectly helped fund attacks on US troops by Shi’ite militia groups loyal to Iran.
Alison Frankel reports for Reuters:
Would it be a bad thing if the War on Terror came to Wall Street?
Wounded Vets Sue Wall Street Over Iraq Attacks BillMoyers.com
"In 2012, HSBC entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with US regulators for violating “federal laws by laundering money from Mexican drug trafficking and processing banned transactions on behalf of Iran, Libya, Sudan and Burma,” USA Today reported.
"The bank ended up paying $1.9 billion to make the charges go away: It was just one of 'several deals US authorities… reached with other banks over similar allegations' in recent years.
"The settlement represented less than ten percent of the bank’s pre-tax profits that year, according to its annual report.
"But on Monday, a new wrinkle was added when HSBC Group was one of five major banks named in a lawsuit filed in a New York court by wounded US vets — and families of soldiers killed in Iraq — under the novel theory that the financial institutions indirectly helped fund attacks on US troops by Shi’ite militia groups loyal to Iran.
Alison Frankel reports for Reuters:
Would it be a bad thing if the War on Terror came to Wall Street?
Wounded Vets Sue Wall Street Over Iraq Attacks BillMoyers.com