BANK HIT WITH TWENTY MILLION DOLLAR PENALTY FOR MASSIVE, APPARENTLY INTENTIONAL AML FAILURES, SUES THE FDIC

CBW BANK, a state chartered bank in Kansas, which the FDIC asserts ran an "illusory AML/CFT program," resulting in a civil money penalty of $20,448,000m has filed an action against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, seeking a jury trial, on Constitutional grounds, and seeking a Preliminary Injunction The bank allegedly took millions in suspicious cash from Mexican banks, which it then wired back to them, and moved $27bn overseas, to such high-risk jurisdictions such as Lebanon and Cyprus. Frankly, I am wondering why its bank executives, as well as compliance officers, have not been charged with money laundering yet.

In my humble opinion, the case has not legal merit; FDIC counsel artfully noted in their Motion to Dismiss, which is pending:
(1) The FDIC action is a administrative proceeding, and there is no statutory right to trial by jury. In fact, there is no subject matter jurisdiction, and the Complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted.
(2) There was insufficient showing to justify a preliminary injunction, and the bank would have post a $20m bond
(3) The case law does not favor such an action.

This looks like a Hail Mary, perhaps filed to seek to negotiate a modification of what must appear to be a fatal blow to a $90m bank, but it is hard to see how the civil suit will survive the motion to dismiss The real question is how bank staff, which clearly ran an operation designed to launder the cash proceeds of criminal activity, have not been indicted.