Barclays to pay $298 million in sanctions settlement

Barclays to pay $298 million in sanctions settlement

August 17, 2010

WASHINGTON (JTA)—Barclays Bank will pay $298 million to settle charges that it violated U.S. sanctions by conducting transactions with clients in Iran, Cuba, Libya, Sudan and Myanmar.

According to court documents filed Monday, the London-based bank was charged with violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Trading with the Enemy Act.

From 1995 until 2006, the bank “violated both U.S. and New York state criminal laws by knowingly and willfully moving or permitting to be moved hundreds of millions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on behalf of banks from Cuba, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Myanmar,” according to court documents.

Barclays will split the payment equally between the U.S. government and New York, according to reports. If the bank complies with the terms of the settlement, the charges will be dismissed in two years.

Reuters reported that Wachovia Bank settled charges last March that it failed to stop millions of Colombian and Mexican drug traffickers’ money from being laundered using accounts at the bank. Last December, prosecutors said the Swiss Bank Credit Suisse Group AG had been hiding thousands of transactions with clients in Iran, Sudan, Libya and other sanctioned nations for decades.

Barclays reportedly cooperated fully with the investigation and is conducting its own internal probe.