OCC, citing efforts to conceal BSA deficiencies, prohibits former general counsel for Rabobank (CA), sets $50k fine

Daniel Weiss, the former general counsel of Rabobank, N.A. (Roseville, Calif.), reportedly helped conceal a report on Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) deficiencies at the bank and has been barred from future service in any federally insured depository institution, according to charges and a consent order announced Tuesday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

Weiss will also pay a $50,000 civil money penalty, the agency said.

The notice of charges, issued in March, alleges that Weiss, as general counsel of Rabobank, participated in the continuous concealment of a third-party report assessing the institution’s BSA program from the OCC in violation of  12 USC 481 and made false statements to the OCC in violation of 18 USC 1001.

The bank in February 2018 pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct an OCC examination in violation of 18 USC 371 and 1517 in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of California, and agreed to pay a forfeiture in the amount of $368,701,259 and a civil money penalty to the OCC in the amount of $50 million, based in part on the violation of 12 USC 481.

The OCC documents state that Weiss was a licensed attorney with the California state bar. Rabobank hired Weiss as acting general counsel in or around July 2009. At that time, the bank was subject to a formal Aagreement with the OCC addressing Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) compliance deficiencies.

OCC Issues Consent Order of Prohibition and $50,000 Civil Money Penalty Against Former General Counsel of Rabobank N.A.