News
U.S. Investigators Target N.Y. Company over Alleged Iranian Ties
By Brian Monroe
printGovernment authorities Wednesday sued to seize tens of millions of dollars in assets from a New York management company they say acted as a front for a blacklisted Iranian bank. Assa Corp. and its Channel Islands-based parent company, Assa Co. Ltd. illicitly helped fund Bank Melli, an Iranian institution sanctioned by the United States since October 2007, the U.S. Justice Department said. Federal investigators froze more than $3 million of Assa's assets in October from New York branches of Citibank and JP Morgan Chase, the department said. On Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury and Justice departments moved in tandem to shut...
TO READ THE FULL STORY
Related News
The House Committee on Foreign Affairs Thursday unanimously approved a measure that would penalize foreign banks that offer financial services to Hezbollah, an Iran-backed, Lebanon-based Shiite militant group.
As U.S. officials and bankers debate the merits and drawbacks of an expected $10 billion sanctions settlement with BNP Paribas, their French counterparts are offering a more unified response: outrage.
U.S. officials Tuesday charged a blacklisted Chinese national with using shell companies to maintain accounts at American banks and offered five million dollars for information on his whereabouts.
The West's financial ties to Russia have given countries pause in considering further sanctions, a Roman judge dropped a money laundering case against the former head of the Vatican Bank and more, in this week's news roundup.
In announcing sanctions against Russian politicians and one bank Thursday, U.S. officials made clear that American financial institutions should prepare for more, and soon.
The financial clearing subsidiary of Deutsche Börse 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.
As early as Monday, banks will be able to do what has become seemingly unthinkable in the sanctions compliance field during recent years: ramp up their ties to Iran.
The chairman of a Senate committee vowed Thursday to block additional sanctions against Iran in an effort to protect last month's multilateral accord to suspend portions of the country's nuclear program.
A U.S. official's threat last month of economic sanctions against four Chinese banks is likely to be toothless given economic and enforcement hurdles, say sanctions analysts.
U.S. officials have secretly solicited and, at times, received data from foreign banks on accounts tied to Iranian entities, without notifying the accountholders of the requests, say sources.
Additional banking and trade restrictions that target the finance and supply of Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs were passed by the U.N. Security Council Wednesday.
The chief investigator of sanctions violations at Lloyds TSB Bank and Credit Suisse speaks with Editor-in-Chief Kieran Beer about the unprecedented penalties and the need for federal beneficial ownership legislation.
Federal prosecutors said Thursday that they were seeking forfeitures from three New York banks as part of the prosecution of two companies allegedly operating under the control of a sanctioned Iranian bank.
The result of presidential elections this month in Iran could have a "huge" impact on whether the United States pushes to impose new economic sanctions against Iran, say analysts.
New York state prosecutors charged a blacklisted Chinese metals dealer Tuesday with illegally circumventing U.S. economic sanctions through shell companies to utilize Manhattan banks.
The president of a New York-based charity under investigation for ties to a blacklisted Iranian bank was arrested Friday after allegedly trying to destroy evidentiary documents he was ordered to produce.
The U.S. Treasury Department added Iran's national oil company and its subsidiaries to its list of Iranian-owned entities Wednesday, effectively prohibiting most transactions with the companies.
The U.S. Treasury Department called on financial institutions Thursday to stop processing dollar transactions involving Iran, even when no American parties are involved.
The U.S. government Wednesday blacklisted a fifth Iranian bank for allegedly helping the country build nuclear weapons, the latest move in escalating efforts to hem in Iran and convince Europe to follow suit.
The U.K. and the European Union will freeze the assets of Iran's largest bank, Bank Melli, over Iran's alleged plans to build a nuclear weapons program, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said today during a joint press conference with President George Bush.