2 Foreign Bank Units Plead Guilty to Money Laundering
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In the first Federal case of money laundering against a large international bank, two principal units of the Luxembourg-based Bank of Credit and Commerce International agreed today to plead guilty to reduced charges and to forfeit $14 million. In the first Federal case of money laundering against a large international bank, two principal units of the Luxembourg-based Bank of Credit and Commerce International agreed today to plead guilty to reduced charges and to forfeit $14 million. The plea agreement, in Federal District Court in Tampa, Fla., appears to reduce the likelihood that evidence about Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega, who had accounts at the bank, will emerge at the trial of several bank officials also charged in the case. Their trial is scheduled to begin this week. Although the ousted Panamanian leader was not mentioned in the indictment, he controlled $23 million in personal and Panamanian Government accounts at various branches of the bank. Pretrial documents filed in the case had suggested that General Noriega’s finances would be an issue in the case. But the bank subsidiary and the bank official charged in the indictment with helping a Noriega associate make deposits of drug money in 1983 are not scheduled to go to trial. The subsidiary settled its charges and the United States has not been able to serve the bank official with papers to require his appearance in court. More : query.nytimes.com |