Danske bank defeats appeal in US over money laundering scandal

Danske Bank A/S and former top executives had defeated an appeal in New York. That is by the shareholders, by claiming that they were defrauded because the Danish bank allowed widespread money laundering at its former Estonian branch. In September 2018, the lawsuit began after Danske said that an internal probe had uncovered about 200 billion euros ($235 billion) of suspicious transactions through its Estonian branch from 2007 to 2015.

Money-laundering at a single branch in Estonia cannot alone establish that Danske Bank itself carried out a deceptive scheme to defraud investors. This is the conclusion that was made out from the 2^nd US circuit court. Circuit Judge Dennis Jacobs wrote that, accusations that Danske improperly reported revenue from money laundering. This is for a three-judge panel. Four pension funds in New York and Massachusetts led the proposed class action. That seeked damages for investors who lost money in Danske’s American depositary shares. This took place in 2019. Claims against former Danske Chief Executive Thomas Borgen, the estate of former Chairman Ole Andersen, and two former chief financial officers were also dismissed. Investigations about these suspicious payments, were made by many authorities. And that is through Danske’s Estonian branch, and Estonia ordered Danske to exit the country. The bank has also faced litigation in Denmark. A lawsuit by the U.S. government and the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board in the Copenhagen city court was also included in this. Danske spokesman Stefan Singh Kailay said that the bank was pleased with the current decision. They will continue defending against civil shareholder claims in Denmark.