UPI en Español  |   UPI Asia  |   About UPI  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Money laundering to cost Wachovia $160M

|
 
Published: March. 18, 2010 at 3:04 PM

MIAMI, March 18 (UPI) -- Wachovia Bank agreed to settle a money laundering case with a $160 million settlement, the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday.

The Justice Department said Wachovia, which was purchased by Wells Fargo & Co., had "admitted failure to identify, detect, and report suspicious transactions in third-party payment processor accounts."

About $420 billion in transfers went through the bank without adequate money-laundering detection systems in place, The Wall Street Journal reported.

In a statement, Wachovia said it had spent $42 million in upgrades to its security system to "strengthen its ability to guard against unlawful use of its system by wrongdoers."

Prosecutors said some of the billions of dollars transferred from Mexican money exchange houses was used to buy planes for drug traffickers.

Federal attorney Jeffrey Sloman said, "Wachovia's blatant disregard for our banking laws gave international cocaine cartels a virtual carte blanche to finance their operations by laundering at least $110 million in drug proceeds. Corporate citizens, no matter how big or powerful, must be held accountable for their actions."

Wachovia agreed to pay $110 million to the U.S. Justice Department and $50 million to the U.S. Treasury, the Journal said.

© 2010 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
'Star Trek Into Darkness' screening NBC upfronts Met Ball 2013
'Great Gatsby' premieres in New York Spire raised on top of One WTC 2013: Celebrity break ups and divorces
Additional Business News Stories
1 of 18
Greek PM Antonis vists Beijing
View Caption
Greek national flags fly over Tiananmen Square during Greece's Prime Minister Antonis Samaras state visit to Beijing on May 16, 2013. Samaras is in China seeking investment and trade deals to help revive his country's recession-battered economy. UPI/Stephen Shaver
fark
High School seniors come up with best Graduation Ceremony idea EVAR. School board: 'Crickets'
Bar will host "Smallest Penis Contest" ... and since it will be held in New York, competition is...
Woman walking near the Arrivals section of the Fort Lauderdale Airport unexpectedly departs by bus...
Photoshop this banged up big ball
Saint Louis Fark Party, June 1 - Get drunk and climb on stuff, two week countdown
"Oops The 5 greatest scientific blunders." From someone who apparently doesn't understand how science...