The three high street banks have been named in the 164-page dossier issued by the US Department of Justice after substantial amounts of money in suspect transactions linked to FIFA were allegedly moved through their accounts.
One allegation included a wire transfer made on 5th December 2013 from a Sports Marketing Company’s account to a JP Morgan Chase correspondent account in New York for credit to the account of a luxury yacht manufacturer at HSBC bank in London.
On Wednesday 27th May nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives were indicted for racketeering conspiracy and corruption, were seven of the defendants charged in the indictment were arrested in Switzerland.
The SFO are yet to open an investigation into the claims but a spokesperson told B&C: “The SFO continues actively to assess material in its possession and has made plain that it stands ready to assist ongoing international criminal investigations.”
Meanwhile the City of London Police said: “During the early stages of the FIFA investigation the City of London Police, which is the National Policing Lead for Fraud, assisted the FBI with their ongoing enquiries in respect to matters that had a UK nexus.”
Barclays, HSBC and Standard Chartered have yet to comment on the news.
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