July 31, 2017
A few minutes before 8 p.m. on Aug. 8, 2012, two Chinese living in Spain – a banker and her client – held a blunt phone conversation.
Wang Jing was a senior officer at the Madrid branch of the state-controlled Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. The client, Xu Kai, was an alleged top figure in an international money laundering group that was suspected of using the bank to transfer illegal income to China. The network was allegedly using multiple accounts in the name of Chinese residents of Spain, in some cases without their permission, to make the transfers. But there had been a hitch. In fact, the bank already had problems. Big problems. Spanish police were listening.