Report: FBI Looking at Deutsche Bank, Money Laundering Controls
The inquiry, first reported in The New York Times, follows a report by that newspaper last month about bank employees in its U.S. compliance division who had flagged suspicious financial transactions to their superiors who then opted not to escalate them to government authorities.
The transactions were notable because they were linked to companies controlled by U.S. President Donald Trump and his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, according to the report.
Trump: No need for banks
Trump rejected the report last month, saying he had little need for banks because he had so much cash on hand and denying that the money came from Russia.
The resulting FBI investigation is viewed as routine following the report about the bank whistleblower, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to talk about an ongoing investigation.
A Deutsche Bank spokesperson declined to comment on the Times report, but said: “We remain committed to cooperating with authorized investigations.”
The FBI, the White House, the Trump Organization, and Kushner Companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside business hours.
Trump, Kushner ties
The Times reported that Kushner Companies said any allegations regarding its relationship with Deutsche and money laundering were false, while a Trump Organization spokeswoman said she was unaware of Deutsche flagging any transactions.
Deutsche Bank has struggled to bounce back after the 2008 financial crisis and has been plagued by failed regulatory stress tests, multibillion dollar fines and management upheavals and most recently a failed merger.
The lender, Germany’s largest, has been making progress working its way through a raft of litigation over past years, but it has recently made headlines about lapses in safeguards meant to identify money laundering.
In 2017, regulators fined Deutsche Bank nearly $700 million for weak controls that allowed money laundering from Russia. A U.S. Department of Justice investigation is still ongoing.
The New York Times report, published Wednesday, cited seven people it said were familiar with the inquiry.
Earlier this month, a group of U.S. Senate Democrats urged the Federal Reserve to investigate Deutsche Bank’s relationship with Trump and Kushner.
Deutsche Bank has long been a principal lender for Trump’s real estate business. A 2017 disclosure form showed that Trump had at least $130 million of liabilities to the bank.
