According to court documents, from as early as the mid-1990s until September 2006, Barclays knowingly and willfully moved or permitted to be moved hundreds of millions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on behalf of banks from Cuba, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Burma, and persons listed as parties or jurisdictions sanctioned by OFAC in violation of U.S. economic sanctions.
Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs, Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Barclays Bank PLC Agrees to Forfeit $298 Million in Connection with Violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Trading with the Enemy Act
A criminal information was filed Aug. 16, 2010, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia charging Barclays with one count of violating the IEEPA and one count of violating the TWEA. Barclays waived indictment, agreed to the filing of the information, and has accepted and acknowledged responsibility for its criminal conduct. Barclays agreed to forfeit the funds as part of the deferred prosecution agreements reached with the Department of Justice and the New York County District Attorney’s Office. The deferred prosecution agreement was approved today by U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan.
“Banks like Barclays will not be permitted to disregard sanctions put in place by the U.S. government,” said Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division. “Not just once, but numerous times over more than a decade, Barclays stripped vital information out of payment messages that would have alerted U.S. financial institutions about the true origins of the funds. This serious conduct has now resulted in a serious sanction – forfeiture of $298 million, a public admission of its illegal acts, and the implementation of stringent compliance measures. As I’ve said repeatedly, when corporations self-disclose their criminal wrongdoing to us, as Barclays did, they will not get a pass, but we will take their disclosure, cooperation and remedial efforts into consideration.”
Source article (thanks to Cryptome.org)
Comment: this announcement does not reveal any information about the affects/aftermath that the hundreds of millions of dollars had throughout the regions it circulated and changed hands. The announcement obsesses over violating U.S. banking laws and “prohibited transactions” instead what empirically transpired with the money (True Cost banking). Information that is more specific of the possible and actual damages such as this lawsuit related to possible human rights violations committed by the Iranian government through the aid of spying centers provided by Nokia Siemens Networks.
Related:
Banks Financing Mexico Gangs Admitted in Wells Fargo Deal (June 29, 2010)
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