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OFAC Fines Clearstream $152 Million for Acting as Intermediary for Iran’s Central Bank
By Colby Adams
printThe financial clearing subsidiary of Deutsche Borse AG will pay the U.S. Treasury Department's sanctions enforcer $152 million for holding money in New York-based accounts on behalf of Iran's central bank. In early 2008, Clearstream Banking, S.A. held $2.8 billion in corporate and sovereign bonds owned by the Iranian financial institution in an omnibus account at a U.S. bank, according to a settlement agreement published Thursday by the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Luxembourg-based Clearstream acted primarily as an intermediary for Iran to hold the bonds in New York, OFAC said. That relationship continued even after OFAC officials...
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