Tag: Diversity

4………….> Cartel’s Banker: Rabobank

Rabobank National Association (Rabobank), a Roseville, California subsidiary of the Netherlands-based Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A., was sentenced for impairing, impeding and obstructing its primary regulator, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the OCC), by concealing deficiencies in its anti-money laundering (AML) program and for obstructing the OCC’s examination of Rabobank. Rabobank was sentenced to a two-year term of probation, and ordered to pay the statutory maximum fine of $500,000. Additionally, as part of its guilty plea, Rabobank forfeited $368,701,259 to the United States as a result of allowing illicit funds to be processed through the bank. 

“Rabobank’s branches on the Mexican border processed hundreds of millions of dollars in suspicious transactions likely tied to international narcotics trafficking, organized crime, and money laundering,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Cronan. “Instead of filing reports that would have alerted law enforcement to the suspicious activity, as required by law, the bank looked the other way and then compounded its misconduct by conspiring to cover-up its failures and deceiving its regulator. Today’s sentence and the related forfeiture demonstrate that the Department of Justice will use all the tools at our disposal to combat drug trafficking and transnational crime—including prosecuting financial institutions that turn a blind eye to illicit proceeds moving through their customers’ accounts.” 

On Feb. 7, Rabobank pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and to corruptly obstruct an examination of a financial institution, admitting that between 2009 and 2012 it implemented policies and procedures that precluded and suppressed its investigations into potentially suspicious transactions near the U.S.-Mexico border, much of which was conducted by customers and through accounts that Rabobank had previously designated “High-Risk.” 

As a result of its failures, Rabobank admitted that certain customer accounts were involved in not less than $368,701,259 in suspicious transactions that were either unreported or untimely reported to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), as required by the BSA. These transactions included high-volume cash deposits and withdrawals, check transactions, electronic transfers, and wire transfers that were consistent with illegal activity such as trade-based money laundering, bulk cash smuggling, structuring, and the black market peso exchange.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/rabobank-na-sentenced-conspiring-impair-impede-and-obstruct-its-primary-regulator