Deutsche Bank raided on money laundering charges

Deutsche Bank has been raided in a money laundering investigation. The German corporation has been dogged by accusations of illegal banking practices for years. The institution’s stock has plummeted as a result.

Panama Papers investigation

Deutsche Bank has been accused of being connected to the Panama Papers, which were released in 2016. They’re a group of documents that leaked from a law firm based in the Central American country. The forms exposed a scheme of some employees allegedly helping clients avoid paying taxes and launder money by creating offshore accounts in the British Virgin Islands. German prosecutors allege that the business served 900 customers in accounts that earned €311 million.

The institution already is under investigation for another money laundering scandal involving Danske Bank in Denmark. The corporation was also fined $700 million for allowing artificial trades in the UK, Russia, and the US.

Markus Riesselmann, an analyst at Independent Research, noted that Deutsche Bank has so many legal troubles, investors should sell their stock in the company.

‘Just when you thought Deutsche Bank had left its legal troubles behind it, there’s more. Investors really want to be able to focus on the bank’s operating business, so this noise around them is quite unhelpful for the mood,’ said Riesselmann.

Trump’s connection to Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank is not only under investigation in Germany. The firm may be under scrutiny in the US for its connection to US President Donald Trump. California Representative, Maxine Waters, has pledged to hold Congressional hearings to delve into the corporation’s ties to Trump. Waters wants to look into the institution being the only one willing to provide him loans after the bankruptcies of his casinos in the 1990’s.

‘We know that Deutsche Bank is identified as one of the biggest money-laundering banks in the world perhaps, and that they're the only ones who were amenable to providing loans to this president. So, we want to know some things about that’, noted Waters.

Deutsche Bank is under fire on both sides of the Atlantic for its controversial business practices. Investors will be watching to see if the institution will recover from this latest scandal.