Federal officials revealed on Monday that a former Dutch bank has agreed to forfeit $500 million for conspiring to defraud the United States and trade with U. S. enemies.

The Justice Department said in a release that the former ABN AMRO Bank NV, now known as the Royal Bank of Scotland NV, agreed to the penalty as part of a criminal information filed in U. S. District Court in Washington.

The former ABN AMRO was charged with one count of violating the Bank Secrecy Act, and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Enemy Act.

Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said, "ABN AMRO facilitated the movement of illegal money through the U. S. financial system by stripping information from transactions and turning a blind eye to its compliance obligations. Over the course of a decade, ABN AMRO assisted sanctioned countries and entities in evading U. S. laws by facilitating hundreds of millions of U. S. dollar transactions."

It was further reported that the bank was accused of conspiring to illegally facilitate U. S. dollar transactions on behalf of financial institutions and customers from Iran, Libya, Sudan, Cuba and other countries between 1995 and 2005. (With Inputs from Agencies)