I found this looking up the latest on Riggs Bank, which has just been ordered to pay $16 million in fines for their Pinochet accounts (see below for more).

This totally slipped under everyone's radar. Reported by the AP back on March 8.

NASD Fines Jonathan Bush & Riggs Bank for Misrepresenting Risk To Clients

(AP) President Bush's uncle, money manager Jonathan J. Bush, has come out on the losing end of an arbitration hearing that two former clients launched against him.

Jonathan Bush, who runs the J. Bush & Co. money management subsidiary of Riggs National Corp., was accused of putting the two clients in unsuitable investments and misrepresenting the risk associated with his firm's stock portfolio recommendations.

The firm, which caters to wealthy investors, and Jonathan Bush himself were ordered to pay more than half a million dollars to the former clients by a National Association of Securities Dealers panel. [Alternate AP link here]

Now, returning to the latest in the Riggs scandal...

Riggs Ordered To Pay $16 Million Fine For Pinochet Accounts

(WashPost) A federal judge yesterday approved requiring Riggs Bank to pay a $16 million criminal fine for its failure to abide by federal anti-money-laundering laws and lambasted the bank as "a greedy corporate henchman of dictators and their corrupt regimes."

In January, Riggs pleaded guilty to one count of failing to file reports on suspicious transactions by two former clients, former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and leaders of the corruption-plagued West African nation of Equatorial Guinea, which was once Riggs's largest customer. At a hearing yesterday, U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina approved the negotiated sentence for the guilty plea between Riggs and the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

Urbina ruled that the amount of the fine was appropriate given Riggs's relative size and its extensive cooperation with prosecutors over the past year -- cooperation that the government said will probably lead to prosecutions of individuals. Nonetheless, Urbina sharply criticized the institution's behavior between 1994 and 2003 as it was outlined by prosecutors. "There is no way of measuring the amount of harm and atrocities and human rights violations perpetrated by Pinochet and Equatorial Guinea as a result of the enabling criminal activity by Riggs Bank," Urbina said. Riggs is one of only three government-insured financial institutions to be convicted of violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, the federal law designed to prevent money laundering in U.S. financial institutions.

"Riggs regrets its failure to file accurate and timely suspicious activity reports with respect to its Pinochet and Equatorial Guinea accounts," said Mark N. Hendrix, a bank spokesman. "This resolves the investigation into the company and enables us to complete our upcoming merger [by PNC Financial Services Group]."

Hey, not so fast!!!

In addition to the $16 million criminal fine, Riggs last year paid a $25 million regulatory fine, $8 million to settle a Spanish criminal action related to Pinochet, and $2.7 million to settle a civil shareholder lawsuit. Former chairman and chief executive Joe L. Allbritton and his son, Robert L. Allbritton, also a former chairman of the company, agreed to pay $1 million in the Spanish settlement.

U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Wainstein said the investigation is ongoing. Government sources said the case has turned to the conduct of individuals associated with the suspect accounts. Only one former Riggs executive, former Equatorial Guinea account manager Simon P. Kareri, has been personally identified in other court actions as a subject of the investigation. Riggs, in Securities and Exchange Commission filings, has said "current and former employees" are the subject of various governmental investigations.

Nevertheless, another AP article declared, "Final Chapter Nears in Riggs Drama."

I certainly hope not, and that the investigations do continue. There are still many questions remaining, such as whether Riggs laundered funds for terrorists. And especially if two of the 9/11 hijackers received funds from the accounts of Prince Bandar's wife. (To be fair -- that most likely wasn't her intention. But Greg Palast has reported that the Saudi Royals pay off terrorist groups as part of an extortion scheme -- "pay us, and we won't attack you.")

Another pesky question -- did Uncle Jonathan play a part in any of this? After all, Prince Bandar is so close to the Bush family, they call him "Bandar Bush." And Poppy Bush has carried water for Pinochet more than once. As CIA Director he helped cover up the Letelier carbombing.