MOSCOW, October 26 (RAPSI) – The U.S. authorities expand their probe into money laundering and breach of sanctions against Russia allegedly perpetrated by Deutsche Bank, Financial Times reported on Sunday.

According to Financial Times, The US Department of Justice and New York’s Department of Financial Service are investigating alleged bypassing of sanctions by former employee of Deutsche Bank through a series of “mirror trades”. These deals involve clients from Russia buying securities in roubles with the help of Bank’s Moscow office and then selling identical ones for other currencies, including US dollars, using Bank’s London office. Potential worth of such deals estimates $6 billion, Financial Times sources claimed.

Tim Wiswell, a US citizen and a former chief of Bank’s Russian equities desk, now placed on leave because of the internal inquiry, is a central figure of the government’s probe. The U.S. authorities are also investigating if Bank’s top executives approved alleged scheme.

The European Union and the United States introduced the first round of sanctions against Russia in July, 2014. They targeted its banking, defense and energy sectors, as well as certain Russian businessmen. These sanctions complicate and in some cases prohibit U.S. companies from doing business with certain Russian companies, especially if the transactions are done in U.S. dollars.