The US Treasury Department has threatened to sever MBaer Merchant Bank AG’s access to the US financial system on the grounds the Swiss bank had supported illicit actors linked to Iran, Russia and Venezuela.
The move is rare and unleashes the most powerful tool in sanctions enforcement by the United States on a Swiss bank.
MBaer does not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The Treasury alleges MBaer and its employees had facilitated corruption linked to Venezuelan and Russian money laundering as well as money laundering and terrorist financing on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Quds Force, which are under sanctions from the US.
The Treasury proposes a rule change that, if finalized, would prohibit covered US financial institutions from opening or maintaining a correspondent account for, or on behalf of, MBaer.
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