Deutsche Bank Queried for Info Possibly Tied to Flynn, WSJ Says

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. authorities asked Deutsche Bank AG to hand over information about transactions that could be linked to former national security adviser Michael Flynn or entities connected to him, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The information was sought as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of alleged Russian interference in last year’s U.S. election, the newspaper said Friday, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. Flynn pleaded guilty this month to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A lawyer representing him didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment on the paper’s report, and a Deutsche Bank spokesman wouldn’t discuss specific legal requests.

“Deutsche Bank takes its legal obligations seriously and remains committed to cooperating with authorized investigations into this matter,” the bank said in a statement.

The Frankfurt-based lender provided Mueller’s team with records on people affiliated with President Donald Trump after receiving a subpoena, a person briefed on the matter said last week. AFP reported at the time that a subpoena had been issued in connection with Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, who has pleaded not guilty to money laundering.

Deutsche Bank, which often serves as a middleman on international transactions between other banks, had flagged cash flows tied to Manafort and a former business partner, the Journal wrote in a separate story late Thursday. It couldn’t be determined whether transactions described in Manafort’s indictment were among those the firm had mentioned to U.S. authorities, the paper noted. Mueller’s team has sought information related to Manafort from a number of global banks, Bloomberg reported in August.

A spokesman for Manafort declined to comment. Trump’s legal team said last week the bank hasn’t received any subpoenas on the president or his family.

--With assistance from David Voreacos Greg Farrell and David Kocieniewski

To contact the reporter on this story: Steven Arons in Frankfurt at sarons@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Jeffrey D Grocott at jgrocott2@bloomberg.net, Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net, David Scheer

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