‘Danske Bank’ pleaded guilty to defrauding US banks: as a consequence, Denmark‘s largest bank agreed to pay a $2bn penalty to resolve one of the biggest money-laundering scandals in recent years. According to the ‘Department of Justice’, Danske Bank had defrauded US lenders in relation to anti-money laundering measures in its Estonia branch, allowing “high-risk customers” (including some from Russia) to access the US financial system. Between 2008 and 2016, Danske Bank’s Estonian branch attracted foreign customers by allowing them to transfer large sums of money through it, with little (if any) oversight. While most of the money came from Russia and other ex-Soviet states, the Danish bank never said how much proved to be actual money laundering.
