The Banker Was A Spy, 22 September 2020

...Ostensibly, [Evgeny] Buryakov was a representative of a Russian bank called VEB. But in reality he worked for the SVR [Russian Foreign Intelligence Service], collecting economic intelligence... American authorities allowed the Russian bank — whose board used to be chaired by Vladimir Putin — to operate in the US despite a paper trail that outlined concerns it was a threat to national security.

The FinCEN Files, a collaboration between BuzzFeed News and more than 100 newsrooms associated with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, shows that the US Treasury Department received at least 86 warnings from 2007 to 2016 discussing the bank, its clients, or Buryakov...

Banks are barred from discussing or even acknowledging the existence of SARs [suspicious activity reports], but in a statement to BuzzFeed News, VEB said it has “never been involved in any illegal activities” or been approached by authorities in relation to the matters raised in this story.

The bank said that disclosure of SARs was illegal and that as it “cannot verify the authenticity” of the documents received by BuzzFeed News, it did not wish to comment further.

In 2014, responding to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the US forbade companies to lend to VEB...

In a SAR that Commerzbank later filed to the US government, it noted that VEB was “publicly tied to Syrian commercial and arms deals” and that Russia was supporting the Assad regime by “loans of foreign currencies.” Commerzbank was concerned that the VEB subsidiary was helping the Syrian regime fund its war... Yet Commerzbank staff in Germany assured their New York counterparts that the sales were simply “ordinary competitive business practices.”...

Responding to questions from BuzzFeed News, Commerzbank said it was unable to comment on clients due to bank secrecy laws. A spokesperson said the bank has invested heavily in compliance since 2015 and successfully completed audits ordered by US regulators....

Another VEB subsidiary, Genetechma Finance Limited, came under scrutiny for its links to possible arms sales... When Barclays compliance officers later investigated, they found that the UAE company [working with VEB] was the “general agent” for an aviation manufacturing and repair complex in Sudan. The Sudanese government was considered a state sponsor of terrorism by the US, and Russia was known to be supporting the Sudanese government in the bloody civil war in South Sudan.... Barclays was also concerned about signs of money laundering...

Barclays, responding to questions for this story, said that under law it could not comment about clients or transactions detailed in SARs, and that the bank believed it had complied with all of its legal and regulatory obligations....

[includes responses from VEB, Commerzbank, Barclays]