Banned Over Terror Clients, FBME Has Added Woe: U.S. Probe
- Prosecutors are said to look at unauthorized card purchases
- Clients included chemical-weapons maker, documents show
Photographer: Yiannis Kourtoglou/AFP via Getty Images
U.S. prosecutors in Brooklyn are examining whether FBME Bank Ltd., a small international bank already barred from the U.S. financial system over suspected terror financing, also aided fraudulent activities by online pornography and gambling companies, according to people familiar with the matter.
The previously unreported investigation of FBME’s credit-card unit is one of two federal criminal probes touching on the activities of FBME, which was shut out of the U.S. financial system this year after the U.S. Treasury Department accused it of laundering money for international terrorist and criminal organizations. The other investigation is looking into alleged laundering of money from a Russian fraud.