A July 16 article published by International Financing Review cites a House Financial Services Committee report critical of political considerations involved in a deferred prosecution agreement between the DOJ and HSBC related to money laundering charges. HSBC paid a fine of $1.9 billion. The Congressional Committee report called into question the impact of a communications between then U.K. Finance Minister George Osborne and then Chairman of the Fed Ben Bernanke. Subsequently, HSBC avoided criminal prosecution and stiffer penalties that could have put it out of business in the US. The article examines whether the report will lead to tougher prosecutions in the future. Investment management partner Mark Nuccio (Boston) is quoted in the article, noting that “the exercise of prosecutorial discretion involves consideration of a range of hard issues, including political and economic ones,” and that “Congressional committees are entitled to issue reports, but they are political documents.”
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