Following up on its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPR”), which we discussed back in March, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released on August 28th a final rule extending Anti-Money Laundering/Countering...more
9/13/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Investment Adviser ,
Money Laundering ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Assessment ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
FinCEN’s recent preliminary rulemaking aims to enhance and modernize regulations with requirements and priorities that affect a broad range of “financial institutions” across industries—but lacks concrete guidance on...more
7/26/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Chevron Deference ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Risk Assessment ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations
As the world now knows, Binance Holdings Limited, doing business as Binance.com (“Binance” or the “Company”), has entered into a plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”)....more
11/27/2023
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
CFTC ,
Consent Order ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FinCEN ,
Guilty Pleas ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
Money Laundering ,
Money Services Business ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Plea Agreements ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
On July 31, 2023, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) published an alert outlining deficiencies the Department of Examinations has observed in broker-dealers’ (“BD”) compliance with anti-money...more
Questions of which, if any, regulatory regimes apply to the variety of participants in the cryptocurrency market continue to dog the industry. On February 28, 2022, whether a cryptocurrency futures trading platform...more
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) recently complied with two important deadlines under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (“AML Act”) — issuing national priorities for AML and countering the financing of...more
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) just issued another Advisory pertaining to two consumer fraud schemes exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. ...more
Internal Investigation Report Stresses Lack of Intentional Misconduct – But the Investigation May Broaden -
Westpac Banking Corporation (“Westpac”), Australia’s second largest retail bank, has been besieged by serious...more
6/15/2020
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Australia ,
Banks ,
Due Diligence ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Institutions ,
Foreign Correspondent Banking ,
Internal Investigations ,
Money Laundering ,
Money Transfer ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations
On May 18, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued an Advisory “to alert financial institutions to rising medical scams related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This [A]dvisory contains red flags, descriptions of...more
On May 4, the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) issued a paper entitled “Covid-19-Related Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing – Risk and Policy Responses (“Paper”). ...more
5/11/2020
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
BSA/AML ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corruption ,
FATF ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Fraud ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Transactions ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)
Second Post in a Two-Post Series on Recent FATF Activity -
As we just blogged, the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) issued a statement from its President on COVID-19 and measures to combat illicit financing during the...more
4/13/2020
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
BSA/AML ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corruption ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
FATF ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Transactions ,
Money Laundering ,
Terrorism Funding ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations
First Post in a Two-Post Series on Recent FATF Activity -
Members presumably working from home, the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) was active last week, first issuing its 3rd Enhanced Follow-up Report & Technical...more
4/13/2020
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
BSA/AML ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
FATF ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Know Your Customers ,
Money Laundering ,
Terrorism Funding ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) just issued a release, entitled “The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) Encourages Financial Institutions to Communicate Concerns Related to the Coronavirus...more
3/17/2020
/ China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Insider Trading ,
Money Laundering ,
Public Health ,
Scams
On August 21, 2019, FinCEN issued an advisory (the “Advisory”) alerting financial institutions to various financial schemes and mechanisms employed by fentanyl and synthetic opioid traffickers to facilitate the illegal...more
8/30/2019
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Convertible Virtual Currencies (CVCs) ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Depository Institutions ,
Digital Wallets ,
Drug & Alcohol Abuse ,
Drug Trafficking ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Transactions ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
Money Services Business ,
Opioid ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Risk Management ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
On June 21, 2019, the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”), a multi-national, inter-governmental body established in 1989 “to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures...more
7/12/2019
/ Administrative Interpretation ,
Anti-Terrorism Financing ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
FATF ,
Financial Action Task Force ,
Financial Transactions ,
Money Laundering ,
New Guidance ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations ,
Travel Rule ,
Virtual Currency
First Post in a Two-Part Series -
Recent actions in the crypto realm demonstrate that authorities and regulators have not slackened their commitment to applying and enforcing Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”) laws and...more
5/10/2019
/ BitLicense ,
BSA/AML ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Currency Transaction Reports (CTR) ,
Darknet ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Money Laundering ,
Money Services Business ,
NYDFS ,
Peer-to-Peer ,
Risk Assessment ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
Virtual Currency
More Allegations of Nordic Malfeasance Surface as Private Party Lawsuits Beset Danske Bank and SwedBank Gets Sucked into Unfolding Scandal....more
4/5/2019
/ American Depository Receipts (ADRs) ,
BSA/AML ,
Class Action ,
Danske Bank ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Estonia ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Transactions ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Money Laundering ,
Rule 10(b) ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Securities Fraud
“Sanctions Bill from Hell” Targets Real Estate Deals -
On February 13, 2019, Sen. Lindsay Graham (R – S.C.) introduced S.482 – the Defending American Security from Kremlin Aggression Act of 2019 (“DASKAA”), a bill intended...more
3/1/2019
/ Bank Secrecy Act ,
Beneficial Owner ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Geographic Targeting Order ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Money Laundering ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Real Estate Investments ,
Real Estate Transactions ,
Russia
In September, the Danish law firm Bruun & Hjejle’s report (“B&H Report”) released its internal investigation report into alleged money laundering conducted through the Estonian branch of Danske Bank (“Danske”)....more
11/30/2018
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Corruption ,
Danske Bank ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Internal Controls ,
Money Laundering ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Russia ,
Vladimir Putin ,
Whistleblowers ,
White Collar Crimes
A recent decision out of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia adjudicating a seemingly straight-forward alleged fraud and money laundering scheme reminds us that money laundering charges still...more
As we have blogged, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida is pursuing charges against eight individuals for allegedly conspiring to launder $1.2 billion embezzled from a Venezuelan...more
On July 24, 2018, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida unsealed a criminal complaint (the “Complaint”) charging eight individuals with conspiracy to commit money laundering under 18 U.S.C....more
8/3/2018
/ Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Currency Exchange ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Embezzlement ,
Energy Sector ,
Financial Crimes ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Official ,
Indictments ,
Joint Venture ,
Money Laundering ,
Racketeering ,
Real Estate Investments ,
Shell Corporations ,
Venezuela
As we blogged yesterday, British Columbia’s (“B.C.”) Attorney General David Eby recently released an independent and very detailed report examining money laundering in B.C.’s gaming industry and providing 48 recommendations...more
7/17/2018
/ BSA/AML ,
Canada ,
Casinos ,
Currency Transaction Reports (CTR) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Crimes ,
FinCEN ,
Gambling ,
Gaming ,
Money Laundering ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
On May 16, 2018, the Securities Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced it had settled charges against a registered broker-dealer, its clearing firm, and its chief compliance and anti-money laundering (“AML”) officer brought...more
The Tale of an AML BSA Exam Gone Wrong -
As we have blogged, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld the decision of the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) to issue a cease...more
3/21/2018
/ Appeals ,
Banking Sector ,
BSA/AML ,
Cease and Desist ,
Cooperative Compliance Regime ,
FDIC ,
FFIEC ,
Filing Requirements ,
Financial Institutions ,
Internal Controls ,
Money Laundering ,
Risk Management ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)