Osborne sent a letter in 2012 to Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, in an attempt to help HSBC's leadership avoid criminal charges over the bank's involvement in laundering drug money and in channelling money to countries under economic sanctions. Osborne suggested that if HSBC were to lose its banking licence in the U.S., this could have negative consequences for the financial markets in Europe and Asia. HSBC avoided criminal charges, and settled with the U.S. Department of Justice for $1.92 bn.