Rabobank Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Commit An Offense Against The U.S. and Conspiracy To Defraud The U.S., Agrees To Forfeit $368 Million

On February 7, 2018, Rabobank N.A. (Rabobank), a California-based subsidiary of Cooperatieve Rabobank U.A.,  a Dutch multinational banking company, entered a guilty plea to a felony count of Conspiracy to Commit an Offense against the U.S. and to Defraud the U.S. in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 371.  It also agreed to forfeit $368,701,259 in money laundering proceeds that the bank permitted to pass through its accounts. In essence, Rabobank admitted that it allowed narcotics traffickers, human traffickers and other criminals to use its banking branches to engage in structuring and money laundering, failed to file, or at least to file timely, Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR’s) for suspicious activities.  These unlawful activities continued from at least 2009 until 2012.