It is/was the biggest bank in DC and had basically a monopoly on embassy banking. I believe its execs actually solicited Pinochet's business actively in the early 90s, flying to South America to woo him. Suitcases full of cash type stuff.
I guess you've been reading the all the stuff coming out about them lately. Unreported Saudi withdrawls of $1 mil or more. $1 *billion* in Equatorial Guinea (where Bush re-opened the US embassy after 9/11; thanks, asshole!) money sitting in safe deposit boxes, etc. Unreal.
I think its former chairman (until very recently) was a Houston guy, and I'm sure you'll find more than a few people associated with it among Bush's pioneers.
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