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Investing.com -- The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has dismissed claims from two whistleblowers that it mishandled an investigation into possible sanctions breaches by Standard Chartered , the bank said.
Shares in Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) rose 3.6% in London trading Friday as of 08:10 GMT.
The British lender issued a statement late Thursday saying it was “pleased and unsurprised” with the outcome, citing a DOJ filing. The bank said the filing confirmed that “the claims underlying this case are false.”
According to the Times, the DOJ filing stated the appeal court should uphold an earlier ruling and that the fraud allegations against the government were “entirely unfounded.”
The lender, along with several peers, remains the target of lawsuits from U.S. armed services members and their families alleging terror financing.
The case took on a political dimension earlier this month, when the bank’s stock tumbled on Aug. 15 after Representative Elise Stefanik called for an inquiry into Standard Chartered for enabling “illicit payments to known terrorists” and criticized New York Attorney General Letitia James for failing to pursue the matter.
Stefanik urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to prevent the case from expiring on Aug. 19. She alleged the bank had made at least $9.6 billion in illicit payments and claimed that China had relied on Standard Chartered to purchase sanctioned Iranian oil.
Standard Chartered previously admitted in 2012 that it had facilitated dollar transactions for Iranian clients in violation of U.S. sanctions and banking regulations.
The lender reached a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department over the scheme, which the government said ran from 2001 to 2007.