Global Ganja Report

Wachovia Corp. on March 18 agreed to pay $160 million to settle federal charges that it failed to establish an adequate anti-money laundering program. The case stems from investigations into transactions with Mexican exchange houses—or casas de cambio (CDCs)—between 2004 and 2007.

Although Wachovia admitted that $110 million could have been laundered, the DEA said "Wachovia failed to effectively monitor for potential money laundering activity more than $420 billion in financial transactions with the CDCs."

The Charlotte-based bank says it stopped dealing with the exchanges before being acquired by Wells Fargo & Co. of San Francisco. According to a Wachovia press release, Wells Fargo knew about the investigation before buying Wachovia in 2008 and established reserves to pay the settlement. Wachovia says it has boosted its compliance program with money-laundering statutes. (Business Journal, Raw Story, March 18)

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