Whistleblower talking to US over the biggest money laundering scheme in history - Sensationalist Headlines

https://www.ft.com/content/78c7ab66-e9cf-11e8-885c-e64da4c0f981?list=intlhomepage The former Danske Bank manager who blew the whistle on a €200bn money-laundering scandal centred on the bank’s tiny Estonian branch has talked to a multitude of US law- enforcement agencies, raising the stakes for Denmark’s biggest lender as it faces investigations around the world. Howard Wilkinson — who alleged to Danske bosses that branch customers included shell companies that were fronts for Russian intelligence and relatives of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president — was cleared by the bank to talk to various agencies including the Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, according to people familiar with the situation. Mr Wilkinson, a British citizen who will testify to both the Danish and EU parliaments this week, previously signed a non-disclosure agreement with the bank that Danske must waive before he gives evidence. The bank gave permission to Mr Wilkinson’s lawyer each time to meet US authorities. The DoJ has launched an investigation into the biggest money-laundering scheme ever uncovered, with what amounted to more than Estonia’s annual GDP passing through the branch every year from Russia and other former Soviet states. The agency is also scrutinising the roles played by Deutsche Bank, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase in clearing cross- border payments for the branch. FinCEN, which has the ability to order US banks to stop handling cross-border payments for foreign lenders suspected of facilitating money-laundering, has said publicly that it has an active interest in the case. In several emails to the bank’s senior management in Copenhagen seen by the Financial Times, Mr Wilkinson laid out how a UK-based limited liability partnership called Lantana Trade “apparently” had beneficial owners that included “the Putin family and the FSB”, the Russian intelligence service. The Kremlin has previously told the FT: “President Putin has nothing to do with the mentioned bank.” Mr Wilkinson’s warning was followed up in 2014 by Danske’s internal audit team, which confirmed much of what he reported. But the bank did not start its own full investigation until 2017, when Berlingske, a Danish newspaper, started reporting on Danske accounts used in alleged money laundering schemes from Russia and Azerbaijan. Danske also partially released Mr Wilkinson from his NDA to give evidence to the Danish parliament. But he still faces the threat of criminal prosecution from what he tells parliamentarians, particularly if he strays into details about clients, according to his lawyer, Stephen Kohn.

Of course it's fucking Russia.

I bet nothing happens.

Why would financial crimes be acted upon? Too big to fail and all that.

Considering how much we spend on effectively nothing, this is going to end up to be childs play compared to what we don't know, or at least just an extremely small fraction of it all. Guarantee it

Remember the Panama Papers?

Contrary to popular opinion, a lot happened behind the scenes regarding that. Various governments recouped a lot of money with 'voluntary tax declarations'.

Damn, I knew this shit was big, but not this big. Guess it's time to switch to another bank. I got a hunch that Danske Bank will, at best, come out of this extremely bruised and battered, being only a shadow of its former self. At worst, they'll get shut down completely.

better move quick before a bank run starts

one again the function of a non transparent shell company is revealed to be a vehicle for money laundering, and once again nobody will ever touch the laws and regs about that because its too fucking useful

I bet some of our Estonian politicians must be involved in this, would love to see some of them in US federal jail.

You should probably take a look at the Wiki article, section 10 if you think nothing happened. Just because it's not in the media doesn't mean nothing is happening. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Papers#Allegations,_reactions,_and_investigations https://www.icij.org/blog/2017/12/500-million-recovered-tax-authorities-worldwide-following-panama-papers/ Hundreds of millions were recovered, hundreds of investigations launched all over the world. 2 prime minister resignations. And so much more. The ICIJ has lots of articles about it.

This stuff really shouldn't have fallen out of the public eye. All I actually recall coming of that was the Iceland resignation stuff. After that I basically hadn't heard a word of it since.

Honestly I bet it falling out of the public eye wasn't an accident, or happenstance.

"Biggest money laundering scheme in history" Hello yes have you met the US military

The news and social media can make people believe in and know whatever they want, for profit.

I'm sure Trump's boss will tell him to bury it as a result.