Lucas,
Big Banks are above the law.
That's the message the Justice Department sent by refusing to prosecute global banking behemoth HSBC for laundering hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of alleged terrorists in the Middle East and drug cartels in Mexico and Colombia.(1)
The evidence against London-based HSBC — the third largest bank in the world, with more than $2.5 trillion in assets — was overwhelming.
But, instead of pursuing criminal charges, the Justice Department simply fined HSBC $1.9 billion. That sounds like a lot, until you realize that's only about a month's worth of profit for the bank.(2)
HSBC's slap on the wrist is a slap in the face to anyone who believes that there should be no such thing as "too big to jail."
Demand justice. Sign the petition to revoke HSBC's corporate charter.
The US division of HSBC is chartered in the state of Maryland. Under Maryland law, the attorney general has the power to revoke a company's corporate charter as punishment for engaging in organized crime. Charter forfeiture is a very strong, but too-seldom used, tool that states can use to ensure corporate integrity.(3)
Two things are particularly baffling about the Justice Department's failure to prosecute HSBC criminally:
• First, as part of its "deferred prosecution" deal, HSBC admitted that it engaged in widespread illegal behavior.
• Second, HSBC's violations of the law concerned matters purportedly of top priority to the Justice Department — drug trafficking and terrorism.
The only thing that saved HSBC was its size.
Public Citizen is not alone in finding this an outrage.
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), for example, summarized the findings of a year-long probe of HSBC's money laundering with this policy option: "If an international bank won't police its own affiliates to stop illicit money, the regulatory agencies should consider whether to revoke the charter of the US bank being used to aid and abet that illicit money."(4)
Meanwhile, lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle, including Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), are calling on the Department of Justice to justify its gentle treatment of financial giants.(5)
No corporation — no matter how vast — should be above the law.
Urge Maryland's attorney general to revoke HSBC's charter.
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Thanks for all you do,
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1. New York Times: HSBC to Pay $1.92 Billion to Settle Charges of Money Laundering
2. The Guardian: HSBC fine: what does it take for a bank to get prosecuted?
3. Public Citizen's letter urging Maryland's attorney general to revoke HSBC's charter (PDF)
4. Press release from the Senate subcommittee that investigated HSBC
5. The Washington Post: Senators question U.S. penalties against Wall Street banks as too lenient