Once again, a major regulatory consulting firm is in hot water after allegedly caving in to pressure from Sullivan & Cromwell to go soft on a bank accused of illegal money laundering activity.
This week, the New York State Department of Financial Services announced that it was penalizing consulting firm Promontory Financial Group for failing to act independently when it prepared an allegedly sanitized report on money laundering at Standard Chartered Bank. The New York regulator stated that Promontory, at the direction of the bank and its counsel, made numerous changes to “soften” and “tone down” the language in the report and omit “red flag terms.”
