Danske CEO Resigns After $234 Billion Tied to Laundromat Scandal
Source: Blloomberg
Danske Bank A/S Chief Executive Officer Thomas Borgen will step down amid allegations his bank was at the center of a major European money laundering scandal with as much as $234 billion flowing through a tiny Estonian unit.
The laundromat case has shocked Denmark, a country generally associated with some of the world’s lowest levels of corruption and highest levels of transparency. Criminal complaints against Danske have so far suggested its Estonian unit was used to launder as much as $9.1 billion between 2007 and 2015, with the illicit funds stemming mostly from Russia. Official investigations are ongoing in Denmark and Estonia and Danish media reported last month that U.S. authorities are also looking at the case.
Danske said it can’t provide an accurate number for how much dirty money it may have laundered. But the bank’s $234 billion estimate of total flows through its Estonian unit -- a figure that’s almost nine times the Baltic nation’s gross domestic product -- raises major questions about how serious management was about preventing money laundering.
The report “unfortunately does not draw a line under the issue as we had hoped,” analysts at Citi Research wrote in a client note. At Jefferies, analysts pointed out that the bank didn’t refer to any sanctions violations, “which is a relief given concerns” of an investigation by U.S. authorities.“It’s unclear what the basis of any fine is at present,” Jefferies said.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-19/danske-bank-ceo-to-step-down-for-role-in-laundering-scandal
More fallout from money laundering by Putin and pals. I wonder if folks will find tRump involvement.
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