Deutsche Bank’s mirror-trading money-laundering case

One of the more unusual money laundering cases involved transactions that allegedly moved through three major financial centers: Moscow, London and New York. Deutsche Bank agreed to pay a $425 million fine to New York State's main financial regulator to settle charges that it had helped Russian investors launder as much as $10 billion through its international branches.

The alleged scheme involved money being routed between the bank's offices in different countries, turning what might look like ordinary international transfers into something far more complicated. The settlement was a regulatory agreement, rather than a court ruling that established criminal guilt.

The fine also arrived after years of other controversies surrounding Germany's largest bank. Deutsche Bank had previously faced regulatory scrutiny over allegations involving toxic mortgage products and the manipulation of the London interbank lending rate, making the Russian money laundering settlement another major setback in a long history of financial scandals.