ING to pay $619M in settlement
Fine will close charges in sanctions evasion case
WASHINGTON — Dutch bank ING Bank NV will pay $619 million to settle charges that it secretly moved billions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on behalf of Cuban and Iranian customers, in violation of U.S. sanctions.
ING intentionally deleted information about thousands of transactions that would have linked the money to sanctioned parties in Cuba, Iran and other countries, the Treasury Department said Tuesday.
The fine, a record for U.S. sanctions violations, defuses multiple criminal and civil probes of ING’s practices between 2002 and 2007. It includes agreements that shield ING from further action by the Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia and the District Attorney for the County of New York, ING said. All were investigating ING’s practices.
The U.S. imposes financial sanctions on political enemies to hinder their access to the global financial system. The goal is to choke off banks and other sources of capital, limiting their economic growth and their ability to buy weapons, food and other items available through global trade.
ING appears to have routed about $1.6 billion illegally through U.S. banks, Treasury said. The actions occurred within ING’s wholesale banking division, which executes transactions for other financial firms and helps them with financing.
ING was charged with one count of knowingly and willfully conspiring to violate two major sanctions laws, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which allows the president to regulate commerce in response to for- eign threats; and the Trading with the Enemy Act, which restricts trade with Cuba.
The charges were outlined in a filing Tuesday in federal court for the District of Columbia. ING did not contest the charges, agreed to the filing “and has accepted responsibility for its criminal conduct and that of its employees,” the Justice Department said in a release.
ING set aside money from its first- quarter earnings to cover the fine, the company said in a statement. It said internal investigations of the issue were under way before ING received inquiries from U.S. authorities.
Jan Hommen, CEO of ING Bank’s parent company ING Group, called the violations “serious and unacceptable.” The government’s filings “describe a very different ING than the company we’re all working so hard for today,” he said.