Israeli Bank to Pay $900 Million Penalty to the U.S.

The Israeli bank "Hapoalim" and its Swiss subsidiary "Hapoalim Switzerland Ltd." will pay approximately $874 million in penalties to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and the New York State Department of Financial Services, including for involvement in a money laundering scheme used to pay bribes to FIFA officials. This information was reported by the German publication "Deutsche Welle."
 
According to the German news agency "dpa" on Friday, May 1, the bank hopes to avoid further criminal prosecution by cooperating with the investigation in a multi-faceted manner due to this penalty payment.
 
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, "Hapoalim" and "Hapoalim Switzerland Ltd." have been found guilty of concealing a total of $7.6 billion in approximately 5,500 accounts in Israel and Switzerland.
 
In a press release from the Department of Justice, it was noted that the banks admitted some of their employees assisted in laundering around $20 million through offshore accounts over a period of five years (from December 2010 to February 2015) to pay bribes and to collect kickbacks from football officials in various countries. The amount of the penalty, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, which the bank must pay only for the specific violation, is set at $30 million.