HSBC Bank USA was not the entity that laundered the money. The target of the DOJ probe and the organization that paid the fine was HSBC Holdings, the U.K. entity.
If you want to argue that HSBC the larger entity had a presence in the U.S., even though the problems did not arise out of that U.S. presence, how do you deal with the fact that Megaupload had U.S. servers?
Oh come off it. For one, that's a patronizing insultingly idiotic argument, it's a farcical shell game of transactions through various subsidiaries the whole point of which was to avoid scrutiny of the US authorities. For two, HSBC Holdings the parent company does have offices in the US, as well as other subsidiaries (HSBC North America Holdings Inc.) which were involved. For three, you expect me to believe that you'd buy it if MU had used a US subsidiary and pretended that the business units were separate?
>If you want to argue that HSBC the larger entity had a presence in the U.S.
No, I don't need to (they do), the purpose of HSBC's US subsidiaries is so that the parent may operate in the US.
>how do you deal with the fact that Megaupload had U.S. servers?
I guess if MU wants to have servers in the US and serve US-based customers, then the federales ought to be able to go and confiscate the servers (so long as they follow due process) if they have cause to do so. But this seizing foreign-based property is right out. I wonder why the DOJ hasn't raided HSBC and siezed a lot of their office equipment.
If you want to argue that HSBC the larger entity had a presence in the U.S., even though the problems did not arise out of that U.S. presence, how do you deal with the fact that Megaupload had U.S. servers?