U.K.'s Standard Chartered Bank "strongly rejects" Iran money laundering claims by U.S.

A man walks past the Standard Chartered Bank building in Hong Kong, Oct. 13, 2010. / AP

(AP) ALBANY, N.Y. — A British bank schemed with the Iranian government to launder $250 billion from 2001 to 2007, leaving the United States' financial system "vulnerable to terrorists," New York's financial regulator charged Monday.

In a statement released Monday night, Standard Chartered Bank said it "strongly rejects" and "contests" the New York regulators' portrayal of its transactions with Iranian banks. It said it voluntarily began reviewing the transactions since 2010 with U.S. regulators and the findings don't match the accusations leveled at the bank Monday.

State Financial Services Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky signed an order that requires London-based Standard Chartered Bank to answer his questions following an investigation into "wire stripping," the practice of removing crucial identifiers in financial transactions.

The state agency called the bank a rogue institution and quoted one of its executives as saying: "You (expletive) Americans. Who are you to tell us, the rest of the world, that we're not going to deal with Iranians."

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The bank conspired with its Iranian clients to route nearly 60,000 different U.S. dollar payments through Standard Chartered's New York branch "after first stripping information from wire transfer messages used to identify sanctioned countries, individuals and entities," according to agency's order.

The order said the transactions provided the bank with millions of dollars in fees at a time when such trade was restricted.

"The group does not believe the order issued by the DFS presents a full and accurate picture of the facts," the bank said Monday night in a fuller response to Lawsky's order. "The analysis, that the group shared with all the U.S. agencies, demonstrates that throughout the period the group acted to comply, and overwhelmingly did comply, with U.S. sanctions and the regulations."

The statement said "well over 99.9 percent" of the questioned transactions with Iran complied with all regulations. The few transactions that didn't amounted to just $14 million, according to the bank. The bank said none of its Iranian payments was on behalf of any designated terrorist group.

"The group takes its responsibilities very seriously, and seeks to comply at all times with the relevant laws and regulations," the bank stated. "It is in this spirit we initiated this review and have engaged with the U.S. agencies."

The bank also said it had no prior notice of the order.

A government official said Monday that the FBI's New York office has been investigating the matter to determine if criminal charges should be brought. The official wasn't authorized to discuss the probe and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

An FBI spokesman declined to comment.

The state agency said the bank's actions "left the U.S. financial system vulnerable to terrorists, weapons dealers, drug kingpins and corrupt regimes and deprived law enforcement investigators of crucial information used to track all manner of criminal activity."

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[DoURememberMe]

There is nothing illegal about financial transactions between 2 sovereign countries. The only disinformation I've seen is the garbage being reported by BBC, REUTERS, Wall Street Jewrnal, CBC, Jew York Times, etc.
On a related topic, Reuters is being sued for reporting on an Iranian female martial arts club, describing them as "assassins". Way to go Reuters! It would be nice if more lawsuits were filed against the rest of the AIPAC 1 percenter controlled media as a way to get them to stop lying through their teeth.
It would also be nice to have comments from real Americans and maybe even real Syrians...not just WarKikes..I mean we get our news from 1 percenter WarKikes, do we really need comments from them as well?

[Lindag20]

They didn't launder money for Iran just like Barclay's didn't rig the LIBOR. The banks are nothing but a bunch of greedy SOBs.

[redbeachvn]

So what else is new? Those banker f***s will do anything for money.

[mrjustice1]

The dishonest bankers deny, deny, and cover up, and then if worse comes to worse, they hire unconscionable lawyers to get them off the hook.

[Springtoola]

Sanctions against Iran are completely unfair anyway.

[gtigerclaw]

Fairness to Iran don't have anything to do with the issue at hand.

[redought]

Muslim extremist,be gone!

[Jhihmoac]

...Goes to show that some will hob-nob with the Boston Strangler if there's substantial gain in it for them :P

[antoniof123]

So we made a mess of the world by allowing banks to destroy it now the US is saying what that others can't.

Wrong US banks you had your day to prove you could be trusted and you proved you couldn't.

Now we have to suffer, thanks wacko's.

[BWB2020]

The state agency called the bank a rogue institution and quoted one of its executives as saying: "You (expletive) Americans. Who are you to tell us, the rest of the world, that we're not going to deal with Iranians."

Gotta admit, that is a valid question and point.

[skeezix06]

Call me cynical at this point but I thought the whole foundation of our current national ideology is that if it's profitable it's a good thing and should be considered legal.