A branch of the bank in Tallinn, Estonia, which has since closed.
(Photo: dpa)
Washington In one of the largest money laundering scandals in the world, the Danish Danske Bank in the USA has confessed to the conspiracy to commit bank fraud. The bank also agreed to pay a $2 billion fine on Tuesday, according to the US Department of Justice.
The bank admitted to defrauding US banks between 2008 and 2016. According to prosecutors, Danske’s Estonian office lured, among other things, Russian customers with the prospect of transferring large amounts of money without much supervision. About 212 billion dollars then flowed through the US financial system from these customers via the branch that has since been closed.
According to US authorities, Danske employees used shell companies to disguise ownership of funds. Accordingly, Danske has known about illegal transactions since at least 2014.