The U.S. subpoena was delivered to Banamex, on the Justice Department’s behalf, by Mexico’s banking commission, according to the documents reviewed by Bloomberg News.
Such involvement by a Mexican agency would be significant, said James Gurule, a former federal prosecutor and undersecretary of enforcement for the U.S. Treasury Department. It likely would have required considerable negotiating efforts between governments, said Gurule, now a law professor at the University of Notre Dame.
U.S. prosecutors are demanding records about the relationship between the California and Mexico units, according to the documents reviewed by Bloomberg News. Some of Banamex USA’s business lines, such as operations and finance, reported to Banamex employees in Mexico while compliance and legal reported to Citigroup personnel in New York, according to the documents.
Money Transfers
Prosecutors are seeking records of due diligence performed on money transfers between the U.S. and Mexico that the California and Mexico units handled on behalf of other companies, including money-wiring businesses. They also asked for the full banking records of five clients.
Citigroup in January said the Mexico unit wasn’t for sale, following reports that the bank was seeking a buyer.
It wouldn’t be the first time U.S. authorities expanded such a probe beyond national borders. Prosecutors pursuing suspicions of lax controls of sanctions and money-laundering rules at HSBC Holdings Plc investigated lapses in the U.S. before peering into activities in the London-based bank’s Mexico unit. As part of its $1.9 billion settlement in 2012, HSBC admitted to failing to maintain effective anti money-laundering programs in both the U.S. and Mexico.