Legal library
The US Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a notice of finding designating BPA as a foreign financial institution of main money laundering concern under Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act.
FinCEN imposed a ‘Special Measure against Banca Privada d’Andorra as a Financial Institution of Primary Money Laundering Concern,’ prohibiting the opening or maintenance of accounts at BPA and the processing of transactions involving it.
The US Consulate in Madrid issued a letter to Andorra’s then-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gilbert Saboya, urging the government to solve the country’s money laundering difficulties. The letter makes no mention of BPA and instead focuses on Moneyval’s suggestion to Andorra.
Declassified email from Anton K. Smith, economic advisor at the US Embassy in Madrid, to his superiors, in which he recognized that FinCEN’s notification was about broader concerns in Andorra.
In the email, Smith refers to comments he made at an event in Madrid, where he said: “the United States had been warning Andorra for months that it was concerned about errors in money laundering prevention, particularly the Moneyval and FAFT cases,” referencing a letter sent by the US to then-Foreign Minister Gilbert Saboya. He stated that the Andorran officials “were not paying attention with the fluidity that we were expecting, and that is why we eventually had to use the hammer.”
FinCEN published a notice on the Federal Register (Vol. 81, No. 43, page 11648) confirming the withdrawal of the money-laundering notice against BPA, stating that “BPA is no longer operating as a financial institution that poses a money laundering threat to the U.S. financial system” as a result of Andorra’s government actions and the dissolution of the bank and its subsidiaries.
Order by United States District for the District of Columbia Judge James E. Boasberg dismissing the lawsuit against FinCEN.
Senior Circuit Judge Edwards of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reaffirmed the United States District Court’s decision to dismiss the case against FinCEN. The court denied the appeal on the grounds that the withdrawal of the notice rendered BPA’s claims moot, and that the window of opportunity to have an influence on Andorran authorities’ stance ended once it was revealed that the Andorran government had completed the sale of BPA assets.
Judge Carlos Nieto Delgado, Magistrate of the Mercantile Court of Madrid, “absolved and dismissed” BPA’s claims against them. The judge determined that the investigation done by Spanish authorities yielded no proof of any crimes or violations committed by BPA relating to money laundering.
Sentence by Judges F. Alfonso Guevara Marcos, M. Angeles Barreiro Avellaneda, and Antonio Díaz Delgado of the the National Court (Audiencia Nacional) of Spain, which is a criminal court based in Madrid, that found BPA Financial Director Santiago Rosello not guilty of the money laundering accusation made against him by Spanish authorities. The Judges found that BPA involvement with Andrey Petrov did not amount to money laundering or any other punishable offenses.
Order by the Regional Court of Madrid (Audiencia Provincial de Madrid) that rejects the appeal from Spain’s Public Prosecutor against the previous court ruling that cleared Banco Madrid (BPA) from any wrongdoing. The Court reaffirmed that it did not find any evidence that the bank facilitated money laundering activities.
Congress of Deputies(Spain’s legislature) motion to create a commission to investigate the actions taken by Rajoy’s government between 2011-2018, in relation to Operation Catalonia.
Former BPA shareholder Higini Cierco filed a complaint against Andorra’s Prime Minister Xavier Espot for “influence peddling and waste of public funds, as provided for and punished in articles 372, 386, and 389-390-391 of the Criminal Code.” According to the lawsuit, Espot “is responsible or co-responsible for the actions, omissions and decisions, which the GOVERNMENT adopted before and after the fateful note from FinCEN of March 10, 2015.”