According to the documents available to Bloomberg, the US authorities are conducting an investigation into alleged money laundering through Mexican branch of Citigroup bank. The US Department of Justice will analyze the transactions between Citigroup Banco Nacional de Mexico (Banamex) and the companies belonging to a Mexican billionaire Carlos Hank Rhon.
The US authorities requested from Citigroup the documents on transactions with Hank Rhon’s companies, which include Grupo Hermes SA and Grupo Financiero Interacciones. The Department of Justice aims to find out if anyone of the bank clients is involved in illegal activities. The billionaire Hank Rhon himself and his business are beyond suspicion. Banco Nacional de Mexico has been convicted of financial fraud before. In October 2014 the bank was fined $2.2 million by Mexican authorities for the breach of the lending procedures. This resulted in huge losses for the whole conglomerate. Banamex is one of the most important branches of Citigroup which brings the bank over 10% of its revenue.
