German exchange operator Deutsche Boerse has again become the target of U.S. authorities in an investigation over whether its Clearstream Banking unit violated U.S. money laundering and Iran sanction laws. Deutsche Boerse on Wednesday said Clearstream was cooperating in an investigation launched by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, months after reaching a $152 million settlement with the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) over the same issue. Several U.S. regulators have been taking an increasingly hard line with financial institutions suspected of violating anti-money laundering rules or economic embargoes on countries like Iran, imposing billions of dollars in penalties and potentially bans on certain types of business. A court filing showed this week that a U.S. grand jury was looking into whether Clearstream Banking SA took any steps to benefit Iran and its central bank, in a case that stems from the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks
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