Standard Chartered has been accused of handling $56.8bn of dollars in allegedly illegal transactions with Iran-connected entities in a civil suit brought by whistleblowers against the bank.

The whistleblowers allege StanChart cleared far more transactions in violation of Iran sanctions between 2009 and 2014 than the U.S. government used as the basis for fines paid by the bank in April.

The new claim filed on Thursday piles further legal woes on the emerging markets bank which has been hit with a series of penalties by U.S. law enforcement and regulators in the past seven years for lax financial controls and for handling transactions for companies in Iran and other sanctioned countries.

In April StanChart agreed to pay $1.1bn to settle charges that it violated sanctions and ignored red flags about its customers, after a multiyear investigation that followed settlements with U.S. authorities in 2012.

The settlement included a guilty plea by a former bank employee and a criminal indictment against a StanChart customer. It came shortly after the Trump administration began stepping up its pressure on Iran through additional sanctions. (more…)