The DOJ-HSBC joint statement acknowledges that, among other offenses, "From the mid-1990s through at least September 2006, HSBC Group Affiliates violated both U.S. and New York State criminal laws by knowingly and willfully moving or permitting to be moved illegally hundreds of millions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on behalf of banks located in Cuba, Iran, Libya, Sudan, and Burma, ... in violation of U.S. economic sanctions."

The statement then goes on for several pages to outline in detail how they demonstrably knowingly broke the law, including this gem:

"HSBC Group was aware of this practice as early as 2000. In 2003, HSBC Group’s Head of Compliance acknowledged that amending payment messages “could provide the basis for an action against [HSBC] Group for breach of sanctions.” At that time, HSBC Group Compliance instructed HSBC Europe to stop the practice. However, HSBC Europe appealed, and due to the “significant business opportunities” offered by the Sanctioned Entities, HSBC Group’s Head of Compliance granted HSBC Europe an extension to continue processing payments in the same manner."

This analysis is spot-on. White collar crime is difficult to prosecute because people fuck up all the time and it's hard to distinguish between a run of the mill fuck up and malicious intent, especially because our usual go-to for inferring intent ("motive") is hard to rely on because in the context of billions of dollars flying around, there always seems like there was motive.

Hence the fine, though we're in agreement that it should be bigger, in order to make it more justifiable to spend resources on exercising more care.