In Washington, one of the oldest financial institutions in America, Riggs Bank, has ceased to exist, according to the website of the Washington Post newspaper. The bank's takeover by PNC Financial Services Group was announced Friday.

Riggs Bank was founded 165 years ago. He participated in financing the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire, and American presidents and foreign embassies located in Washington kept their deposits in it.

In 1981, the bank was acquired by Texas millionaire Joe Allbritton. He continued his course towards developing the bank as an elite financial institution, geographically serving only the center of Washington. According to some experts, this was one of the reasons for the decline in the bank's financial performance to a critically low level.

Another reason is the growing scandal surrounding allegations that the bank provided its services for money laundering of dubious origins. Federal Reserve and Treasury officials are investigating the alleged existence of accounts containing money from former Chilean President Augusto Pinochet and the dictator of the small African country of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

Thus, the US Senate believes that Riggs Bank helped Pinochet hide about $8 million from justice. The commission's report states that between 1994 and 2002, the bank helped the former Chilean leader create several offshore companies and open accounts on behalf of these companies, into which Pinochet's money was spent. In addition, Riggs Bank hid the existence of these accounts from investigators for two years.

Washington lost its "presidential" bank