Shares of major banks dropped Monday morning following a report alleging those including JPMorgan, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Deutsche Bank and Bank of New York Mellon continued to profit from illicit dealings with disreputable people and criminal networks despite being previously fined for similar actions.
The losses helped drive all major stock indices down over 2% in morning trading.
According to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, leaked government documents show that the banks continued moving illicit funds even after U.S. officials warned they’d face criminal prosecutions if they didn’t stop doing business with mobsters, fraudsters or corrupt regimes.
The consortium says the documents indicate that JPMorgan moved money for people and companies tied to the massive looting of public funds in Malaysia, Venezuela and the Ukraine. The bank also processed more than $50 million in payments over a decade for Paul Manafort, the former campaign manager for President Donald Trump, according to the documents, which are known as the FinCEN Files.
The consortium’s investigation found the documents identify more than $2 trillion in transactions between 1999 and 2017 that were flagged by financial institutions’ internal compliance officers as possible money laundering or other criminal activity — including $514 billion at JPMorgan and $1.3 trillion at Deutsche Bank. Shares of Deutsche Bank dropped 7.7%.
