HSBC Judge Approves $1.9B Drug-Money Laundering AccordHSBC Holdings Plc’s $1.9 billion agreement with the U.S. to resolve charges it enabled Latin American drug cartels to launder billions of dollars was approved by a federal judge. U.S. District Judge John Gleeson in Brooklyn, New York, signed off yesterday on a deferred-prosecution agreement, a critical component of the London-based bank’s settlement.