A London-based bank that provided wholesale banking services through branch offices in this country, primarily U.S.-dollar clearing for international wire payments, has agreed to forfeit $227 million to the Justice Department for conspiring to violate international economic regulations that posed a threat to the United States.
A British bank accused of scheming with the Iranian government to launder billions of dollars will be subject to two years of monitoring at its New York branch and will permanently install personnel to oversee and audit offshore monitoring as part of a $340 million settlement with financial regulators.
A British bank schemed with the Iranian government to launder $250 billion from 2001 to 2007, leaving the U.S. financial system "vulnerable to terrorists," New York's financial regulator charged Monday.
The economy inched ahead at a 1.3 percent annual growth rate last spring, held back by soaring gasoline prices and disruptions in manufacturing caused by the March earthquake/tsunami in Japan.
