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A recent filing in a New York court has accused British bank Standard Chartered of facilitating billions of dollars in transactions for entities funding terrorist organizations. The documents allege that between 2008 and 2013, the bank conducted over $100 billion worth of transactions in violation of US sanctions against Iran.
An independent expert identified $9.6 billion in foreign exchange transactions involving individuals and companies designated by the US government as funders of terrorist groups, including Hezbollah, Hamas, al-Qaeda, and the Taliban. Standard Chartered has disputed these claims, asserting that previous allegations were thoroughly discredited by US authorities.
In 2012, Standard Chartered faced accusations of falsifying transaction data on the Swift international payment system to move funds through its New York branch for sanctioned entities like the Central Bank of Iran. The bank avoided prosecution after intervention by George Osborne, then Chancellor under Lord Cameron’s government. Despite paying over $1.7 billion in fines for sanction breaches in 2012 and 2019, the bank has not admitted to transactions for terrorist organizations.
The allegations emerged from confidential bank spreadsheets provided to US authorities by whistleblowers, including former Standard Chartered executive Julian Knight. US government agencies had the whistleblowers’ claim for a reward dismissed in 2019, stating there was no evidence of improper transactions post-2007. However, independent expert David Scantling’s analysis suggests otherwise. His declaration identifies over half a million transactions between 2008 and 2013 that were obscured but extractable through standard analytical techniques.
Among these transactions were those involving Iranian banks and companies, and entities financing designated terrorist organizations. Scantling also highlighted transactions for a Pakistani company known for supplying materials used in Taliban roadside bombs and a Gambian front company linked to Hezbollah financier Mohammad Ibrahim Bazzi.
Daniel Alter, former general counsel at the New York Department of Financial Services, called the new findings “shocking” and “exponentially worse” than previously disclosed by Standard Chartered. The revelations add a new dimension to the ongoing scrutiny of the bank’s compliance with international sanctions and anti-terrorism financing regulations.
