“One hundred and fifty-two people were on trial alongside Societe Generale, the French units of Barclays and of the National Bank of Pakistan, and Societe Marseillaise de Credit, owned by HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBA.LN). Daniel Bouton, the chairman of Societe Generale – which was hit by a massive rogue trading scandal at the start of this year – was acquitted along with his bank and three other senior managers at the lender. They were accused of handling the equivalent of EUR32 million in ill-gotten funds.

Investigators told the court that Societe Generale knew of the fraudulent origin of this money but the judge accepted defense arguments that there was no “intentional element” on the part of the bank.

Bouton’s lawyer welcomed what he said was a “coherent” decision. Bouton had been charged with aggravated money laundering and faced 10 years in jail.

Barclays-France and four of its former or current executives were also cleared of wrongdoing.

The court fined the National Bank of Pakistan EUR200,000 and gave two-year suspended jail sentences to two of its bosses for failing to spot EUR1.8 million in illegal transfers.

The pair were also fined EUR20,000 each. Two other executives from the NBP, one of the largest commercial banks in Pakistan, were acquitted.

Societe Marseillaise de Credit was also convicted of failing to spot EUR1.8 million in illegal transfers and fined EUR100,000. One of its executives was given an eight-month suspended sentence.

A former French prosecutor was convicted of for corruption and influence peddling and given a three-year jail sentence with 16 months of it suspended. He was fined EUR30,000….”

And this:

“Judges heard how the four banks handled money from merchants in Paris‘ Sentier garment district – the proceeds of tax evasion, embezzlement or stolen checks laundered through banks or money exchange offices in Israel. The banks had all denied any wrongdoing in the case, dubbed “Sentier 2.

A previous “Sentier” trial saw dozens of clothing merchants from the district convicted of defrauding banks, and investigators looked at whether the firms had made proper checks before handling the merchants’ payments.”

That’s the crux of a Dow Jones Newswire report (Dec 11, 2008) that I came across while following up on the Madoff case. Seems to fit in with my hunch about money laundering.