A U.S. court found three unnamed Chinese banks in contempt after they declined to hand over records requested by a grand jury related to their dealings with a Hong Kong front company that allegedly laundered over $100 million for North Korea's Foreign Trade Bank, The Washington Post reported June 25. According to related court records, these banks are the state-owned Bank of Communications, China's fifth-largest bank; the partly state-owned China Merchants Bank; and the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, China's ninth-largest. All three banks have appealed, insisting that they are bound by Chinese law to go through authorities in Beijing in line with the U.S.-China legal assistance pact; that hearing is set for July 12.