StanChart Whistle-Blower Says U.S. Missed Billions in Trade - Bloomberg

StanChart Whistle-Blower Says U.S. Missed Billions in Trade - Bloomberg:

Standard Chartered Plc’s transactions with Iran were worth tens of billions of dollars more than previously known, a whistle-blower said in a lawsuit claiming the British bank actively pursued Iranian business in violation of U.S. sanctions.

The whistle-blower, a bank executive who isn’t named in court papers, was the bank’s global head of transaction banking and foreign exchange sales. He and another plaintiff -- described only as an American currency trader -- say StanChart handled more than $56 billion in transactions from 2009 to 2014, compared with $240 million cited by the Justice Department between 2007 and 2011 in an April settlement with the bank.

StanChart’s illicit trade with Iran has cost it more than $1.7 billion in penalties from prosecutions in 2012 and 2019 by the Justice Department and regulators. The whistle-blower claims the bank’s wrongdoing was more extensive than the U.S. alleged and seeks an order forcing it to pay an unspecified additional sum to the government.