Wachovia's "Risk-Management Culture"

Go for the green, and the hell with the law!:

MIAMI, March 17 (Reuters) - The Wachovia Bank unit of Wells Fargo & Co has agreed to pay $160 million to settle U.S. allegations that it laundered Mexican drug money.

Under the agreement, Wachovia will forfeit $110 million, representing the proceeds of illegal narcotics sales that were laundered through the bank, the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of Florida said.

The bank will pay an additional $50 million fine to the U.S. Treasury.

"Wachovia's blatant disregard for our banking laws gave international cocaine cartels a virtual carte blanche to finance their operations by laundering at least $110 million in drug proceeds," U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sloman said on Wednesday.

A deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice resolved charges that the bank willfully failed to establish a program to guard against money laundering. It also resolved Wachovia's admitted failure to identify, detect and report suspicious transactions in third-party payment processor accounts.

...Prior to the settlement, Wachovia said it was cooperating and was "committed to maintaining compliant and effective anti-money laundering policies and practices, and a strong compliance and risk management culture."