Woman pleads guilty to role in laundering $4 billion via Danske Bank in Estonia

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – A Lithuanian woman on Wednesday pleaded guilty to involvement in laundering more than 29 billion Danish crowns ($4.1 billion) through Danske Bank’s Estonian branch, her defence lawyer said.

The case, in which two other individuals have been charged, came to the authorities’ attention during an investigation into one of the world’s biggest money laundering scandals at Danske Bank, Denmark’s biggest lender.

The 49-year old woman told a Copenhagen city court she helped launder money via 40 limited partnerships, all of which had bank accounts in Danske Bank’s now shuttered Estonian branch, between 2008 and 2016, her lawyer said.

The woman, who is already serving almost four years in prison in a separate case of money laundering worth 140 million crowns, will face sentencing on June 23.

Danske is being investigated by authorities in several countries after more than 200 billion euros ($210 billion) in suspicious transactions flowed through its Estonian branch.

($1 = 7.0917 Danish crowns)

($1 = 0.9547 euros)

(Reporting by Nikolaj Skydsgaard and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Mark Potter)