On Monday, financial regulators in New York alleged Standard Chartered of Great Britain concealed $250 billion worth of Iranian transactions over nearly 10 years. The New York State Department of Financial Services accused the London-based banking group on Monday with concealing 60,000 transactions with Iranian clients, including the Central Bank of Iran, from 2001-2010.
The United States and its allies have increased economic sanctions against Iran over the past few years in an effort to deter the Islamic Republic from developing its nuclear capabilities. Iran contends that its goal is to produce energy, while U.S. officials say the Iranians are developing weapons. Standard Chartered allegedly falsified business and official records to mask transactions with Iranian customers that were subject to U.S. economic sanctions, said the New York State Department of Financial Services. According to an order issued by New York authorities, the British banking group in return reaped “hundreds of millions” of dollars in fees. In the document, regulators said, “Led by its most senior management, [Standard Chartered] designed and implemented an elaborate scheme by which to use its New York branch as a front for prohibited dealings with Iran – dealings that indisputably helped sustain a global threat to peace and stability.”
