A U.S. Senate investigation claims that HSBC, Europe’s largest bank, spent seven years allowing Mexican drug cartels to exploit lax regulatory checks and utilize the bank to launder drug-related money. The report, posted by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, also indicted US regulators for failing to encourage HSBC to eliminate existing loopholes.
Senator Carl Levin, the subcommittee’s chairman, said that HSBC Bank USA’s lax regulations “exposed the United States to Mexican drug money,” which flowed through the banks from 2002-2009. HSBC and the Justice Department are purportedly currently holding settlement talks, and a settlement may be reached within the coming weeks.
