That heavy jail sentence while HSBC got a "slap on the wrist", paying their way out of a criminal indictment [1]. > The settlement, announced December 11, 2012

That heavy jail sentence while HSBC got a "slap on the wrist", paying their way out of a criminal indictment [1]. > The settlement, announced December 11, 2012, included a $1.256 billion forfeiture and $665 million in civil fines. > It resolved charges accusing HSBC of having degenerated into a "preferred financial institution" for Mexican and Colombian drug cartels, money launderers and other wrongdoers through what the U.S. Department of Justice called "stunning failures of oversight." (...) >The deferred prosecution agreement, known as a DPA, lasts for five years, and prosecutors may indict the bank if it violates the terms. > Gleeson said "much of what might have been accomplished by a criminal conviction has been agreed to in the DPA," whose administration he will supervise. > He noted having received requests from the public to reject the agreement because it did not hold HSBC criminally liable. He also read numerous editorials and columns suggesting, as one put it, that HSBC was "too big to indict." [1] http://www.reuters.com/article/us-hsbc-settlement-laundering-idUSBRE9611B220130702 http://www.reuters.com/article/us-hsbc-settlement-laundering...