NY regulator accuses British bank of scheming with Iranians to launder $250 billion

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/ny-regulator-accuses-standard-chartered-bank-of-iran-money-laundering-scheme-seeks-response/2012/08/06/cf2d0bb2-dfe1-11e1-8d48-2b1243f34c85_story.html?hpid=z4

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.

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.”

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.

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1. Oops.