Deutsche Bank, the launderer whitewashes

Deutsche Bank, along with several of the world's largest commercial banks, are embroiled in a global money laundering scandal that spans more than two decades. Documents leaked to BuzzFeed reveal $2 trillion in illegal cash flows from Western banks.

According to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), these suspicious activity reports, detailing years of alleged illicit financial transactions, were shared with 108 news organizations in 88 countries. These leaked documents are mandatory for any financial institution transacting in dollars anywhere in the world. They are filed with the Treasury Department's intelligence unit, the Financial Crimes and Compliance Network (FinCEN). Deutsche Bank, "linked to Trump" (it is him or the Russians, at choice), is by far the most affected by these suspicious activity reports that total well over half of the $ 2 trillion of FinCEN files. About $1.3 trillion in illicit money is believed to have actually passed through Deutsche Bank.

Germany's largest bank will already have to pay a fine of 13.5 million euros for failing to report 627 suspected money laundering cases of its Danish counterpart Danske Bank in time to the authorities. The employees of the Deustche are cleared because of "the lack of sufficient evidence".

Deutsche Bank's central position betrays a much more important and less talked about issue: a possible bankruptcy of this systemic institution that could lead the financial world adrift and lead to the biggest economic crisis in history.

The 1MDB scandal: JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, again!

While the shares of European banks have plunged into full revelation, FinCEN has denounced the illegal leak of the famous documents to the press. The unit warned that it could have "an effect on the national security of the United States."

It should be noted that most finCEN leaks do not show how all these banks and financial institutions not only launder billions, but do it together and in coordination with each other. The 1MDB fraud case, for example, clearly illustrates this phenomenon.

Indeed, the U.S. Department of Justice is in the midst of the largest asset recovery effort in U.S. history. He filed his latest complaint about the $300 million the ministry is trying to recover for an $11.7 billion Malaysian sovereign wealth fund called 1MDB. This is one of the main cases highlighted by the ICIJ in its report on the recently leaked documents. The case of 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) is an international conspiracy to launder funds embezzled from 1MDB. It would be nothing less than "one of the greatest financial scandals of all time".

Most FinCEN publications point the finger at the US bank JP Morgan Chase (see its scams in the gold and precious metals market) which allegedly transferred more than a billion dollars to Jho Low, the main businessman of the scandal. On the run for months, the latter is accused of having embezzled money from 1MDB to personal accounts camouflaged to look like a legitimate company.

But the documents overlook the position of another US bank, Goldman Sachs, which allegedly orchestrated much of the plan to defraud and harm Malaysia. 17 current and former Goldman Sachs executives have faced criminal prosecution in Malaysia. including former Goldman Sachs vice president Michael Evans, who is now president of Chinese e-commerce platform Alibaba. I will return to the subject of the bridge between international finance set in New York and China in a future article next week.

In any case, the Malaysian government recently decided to drop the charges against Goldman Sachs following a $2.5 billion deal with the investment bank. Money wipes out all slates, even legal... Deutsche Bank also participated in this gigantic scam against Malaysia. It offered hundreds of millions of share purchase loans through the 1MDB fund to the country's former prime minister, Najib Razak, who has since been convicted of corruption last July.

A multi-billion dollar international banking conspiracy

The purpose of the 1MDB fund was to finance infrastructure projects such as oil and gas pipeline projects. Yet, according to the Business Insider article, the money was used for extravagant expenses such as buying artwork, casino, champagne and, more funnily, producing the movie "The Wolf of Wall Street." This film production deals precisely with the limitless corruption of Wall Street, which the same people and organizations involved in this financial scandal practice every day! The multiple hidden meanings of Hollywood cinema have never been more ironic.
It is also confirmed that former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein ("the banker who does God's work") met with the ousted former Malaysian prime minister and fugitive businessman Jho Low before the launch of the 1MDB fund in 2009. After destroying Greece (see my article on this subject), the holy man seems to be decidedly in all the right moves.

In this regard, another lawsuit against Goldman Sachs details the "key role of the investment bank in the long-term attempt to bribe former executives" of the Abu Dhabi fund, known as the International Petroleum Investment Corporation. Its subsidiary, Aabar Investments, has collaborated with 1MDB. So we are clearly facing what can objectively be called a vast multi-billion dollar international banking conspiracy.

The leaked FinCEN files draw surprisingly more attention to Deutsche Bank, which is not American. This may have the characteristics of a premeditated blow on one of the pillars of the international financial system (and the first European bank for euro enthusiasts). Just as Lehman Brothers and Bear Sterns were sacrificed on the altar of the subprime crisis, Deutsche Bank will have to fall or be bailed out by the taxes of the citizens of the European Union.

The consequences of this leak of FinCEN files can shake global markets and cause a financial crisis of epic proportions.