A report released by Bloomberg today states that criminal investigators from the U.S. Department of Justice have contacted Deutsche Bank AG and Bank of America Corp. about transactions they handled for the small Danske Bank branch in Estonia that’s at the center of one of the biggest money-laundering investigations in history. The investigators are also questioning JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s work with the branch.
A confidential whistleblower stepped forward in 2013, uncovering a massive money-laundering scandal involving billions of dollars flowing out of Russia and other former Soviet states. In September of 2018, news reports on the $234 billion scandal revealed the existence of a whistleblower but not the identity. However, his identity was subsequently leaked to the news media, presumably by current or former Danske Bank employees who knew who he was.
The whistleblower, Howard Wilkinson, provided evidence that customers were using hundreds of phony shell companies to move hundreds of millions of dollars in violation of money laundering laws.
Leading whistleblower attorney, Stephen M. Kohn, who is representing Wilkinson, said: “Law enforcement must hold accountable every institution that facilitated the money laundering scheme, both in Europe and in New York. Mr. Wilkinson’s disclosures have demonstrated again whistleblowers are the key to the detection of fraud and holding fraudsters accountable.”
Wilkinson is scheduled to testify before the Danish Parliament on November 19, 2018 and the European Parliament on November 21st. The European Parliament also requested Stephen Kohn to provide testimony as an expert on whistleblower law.
Learn more:
- How the Danske Bank Money-Laundering Scheme Was Uncovered by a Whistleblower
- Deutsche Bank, BofA, JPM Are Drawn into Danske Probe
- Danske Bank Whistleblower Demands Protection
- Danske Bank Whistleblower to Testify before the Danish and European Parliaments
- American Whistleblower Attorney “Dirty Harry” of Denmark’s Financial Fraud
- Danske Bank Waives Nondisclosure Agreements Permitting Danske Bank Whistleblower to Testify Before Danish And European Parliaments
