Deutsche Bank under investigation for business with Iran

Not to worry though because it's painfully clear after the crisis that the financial industry is the law, so little will come of this. Now that the US Department of Justice has taken a pass on prosecuting Wall Street for the 2008 banking crisis, it's hard to say what a bank has to do in order to be held fully accountable for their actions.

U.S. prosecutors are investigating Deutsche Bank and several other global banks over business linked to Iran, Sudan and other nations currently under international sanctions, the New York Times reported on Saturday.

The U.S. Justice Department and the Manhattan District Attorney's office are investigating the banks for allegedly using U.S. branches to move billions of dollars in Iran-linked transactions, according to the report, citing unnamed law enforcement officials.

The investigation into Deutsche Bank is at an early stage and so far there is no suspicion the Germany-based institution moved money on behalf of Iranian clients through American operations after 2008, when a policy loophole allowing such maneuvering closed, the Times reported.

Deutsche Bank decided in 2007 it would "not engage in new business with counterparties in countries such as Iran, Syria, Sudan and North Korea and to exit existing business to the extent legally possible," a spokesman told Reuters on Saturday. He declined to comment further.

Equally unsettling is the NY Times report that our "allies" in Iraq (including those with deep ties to the government) are also finding lucrative business and banking partnerships with Iran.