Standard Chartered Plc branch in Hong Kong
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Recent documents filed in US federal court allege that a major British bank Standard Charter helped finance sanctioned Iranian organizations and terrorist groups, and this relevant evidence was ignored by US authorities.
London Standard Chartered, which mainly serves clients in emerging markets, was previously punished by more than the total amount of fines was $1.7 billion. after admitting in 2012 and 2019 to violating sanctions against Iran and other blacklisted countries.
The bank denies that it conducted transactions for any organizations designated as terrorist organizations.
Latest court filings from former Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) employee-turned-whistleblower Julian Knight claim US officials lied when they denied he provided them with evidence of far more serious wrongdoing at the bank. Officials then filed to dismiss his whistleblower case against the bank as “meritless” in 2019 to protect him, Knight claims. Now he has asked the US federal court in New York to reinstate the case.
Knight, who headed Standard Chartered’s transaction services unit between 2009 and 2011, was one of two whistleblowers who provided confidential bank statements to US investigators in 2012 and 2013. Statements documenting transactions that he said contained evidence of further sanctions violations, including violations after 2007. , when the bank said it had stopped all dealings with Iran.
Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri and IRGC Aerospace Forces Commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh walk during the presentation of the Kheybarshekan missile at an undisclosed location in Iran in this photo taken Feb. 9, 2022.
IRGC | VANA | via Reuters
Knight’s court filing claims the US government committed a “colossal fraud” against the legal system, denying that he presented “damning evidence” that Standard Chartered “facilitated many billions of dollars in banking transactions for Iran, numerous international terrorist groups and the ” companies for these groups”, according to report International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
Some of that evidence, according to court papers, showed that the bank’s clients included front companies for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the Lebanese Hezbollah and Iran-linked organizations in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Germany and other countries. . .Â
Two whistleblowers alleged that US authorities investigating Standard Chartered “made false statements to the court in order to obtain their confession.” [Knight’s and his colleague’s] claim for whistleblower reward dismissed” in 2019 The BBC reports this.
Relevant authorities, including an FBI agent, said the whistleblower allegations “did not lead to the discovery of any new … violations.” The court then dismissed the case as “unfounded”. CNBC has contacted the US Department of Justice for comment.
The ICIJ report said Knight’s latest statement alleged that the US government “lied about having conducted a ‘prolonged, costly and substantial investigation’ into his claims or that it was ‘fully aware’ of the transactions he provided” and simply lied to cover them up,” adding: “The government’s own statements confirm the latter scenario.”
In response to a CNBC request for comment, a Standard Chartered spokesman characterized Knight’s court filing as “another attempt to use trumped-up claims against the bank after previous unsuccessful attempts” and said that “the false allegations underlying this filing have been completely discredited by the United States.” authorities, who conducted a full investigation into the claims and said they were “baseless” and found no violations of US sanctions.”