Standard Chartered Bank Accused of Hiding $250 Billion in Iranian Transactions

According to reports on CNBC and elsewhere New York State has accused Standard Chartered of hiding $250 Billion in Iranian transactions, that the acts were willful, that they involved stripping identifying information from the transfers so as to prevent identifying the source of said transactions and that this was an intentional and pervasive practice.

The allegation involves some 60,000 transactions and state regulators have threatened to suspend or revoke the bank’s operating license in New York (and, presumably, is doing so in concert with the OCC and/or Treasury.)

This isn’t the first time that a bank with operations in the United States has been accused of stripping identifying information from transactions. That act, standing alone, is a federal offense under existing laws and up until now has been met only with “handslap” fines.

Details are somewhat sketchy on the latest allegations — but note that the firm claimed in 2007 that it cut all ties with Iran. It appears that the complaint deals with conduct prior to that time.

Oh, and as for the bank’s attitude? Read this from the complaint:

Lest there be any doubt, SCB’s obvious contempt for U.S. banking regulations was succinctly and unambiguously communicated by SCB’s Group Executive Director in response. As quoted by an SCB New York branch officer, the Group Director caustically replied: “You f—ing Americans. Who are you to tell us, the rest of the world, that we’re not going to deal with Iranians.”6

But remember folks, nobody committed any crimes! (according to Gary Johnson, Barack Obama and Mitt(ens) Romney)

Yeah, right.