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HSBC Escapes Prosecution as U.S. Ends 5-Year Deferred Deal

  • DOJ to seek dismissal of charges after compliance improvements
  • Firm fined $1.9 billion in 2012 for helping launder drug cash
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Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
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HSBC Holdings Plc said its five-year-old deferred prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice has expired, signaling the U.S. is satisfied with the bank’s improvements to its compliance systems after it was ensnared in a money-laundering scandal in Mexico.

The Justice Department will file a motion with a court in the Eastern District of New York seeking the dismissal of charges after HSBC "lived up to all of its commitments" to improve its anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance capabilities, the London-based bank said in a statement Monday. Once dismissed, the bank can no longer be criminally prosecuted for the matter.