Ed Caeser writing in the New Yorker gives an excellent and clear picture of “mirror trading” undertaken by Deutsche Bank in which Russians were able to launder money.  Between 2011 and 2015 Russian broker Igor Volkov called the trading desk at Deutsche Bank’s Moscow office to place two trades.  One was on the Russian market for a blue chip Russian stock like Lukoil.  The stock was then sold on the London exchange for dollars, euors or pounds. Both trades were made on behalf of the same company registered offshore.

Why would such “mirror trades” be made?   Because Russian rubles can be laundered in other Western currencies without calling much attention to the deal.

Did Deutsche Bank know what it was doing?  Probably yes.  There were a lot of trades and fees mount up.  Deutsche Bank has had a long and sordid history.

Caeser wrutes: “Since 2008, it has paid more than nine billion dollars in fines and settlements for such improprieties as conspiring to manipulate the price of gold and silver, defrauding mortgage companies, and violating U.S. sanctions by trading in Iran, Syria, Libya, Myanmar, and Sudan. Last year, Deutsche Bank was ordered to pay regulators in the U.S. and the U.K. two and a half billion dollars, and to dismiss seven employees, for its role in manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate, or libor, which is the interest rate banks charge one another. The Financial Conduct Authority, in Britain, chastised Deutsche Bank not only for its manipulation of libor but also for its subsequent lack of candor. “Deutsche Bank’s failings were compounded by them repeatedly misleading us,” Georgina Philippou, of the F.C.A., declared. “The bank took far too long to produce vital documents and it moved far too slowly to fix relevant systems.”

by Anna Parini