On April 24, 2024, President Biden signed into law a long-debated $98 billion foreign aid and national security legislative package (the “Act”) providing funds for Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine, and authorizing new sanctions...more
In the rapidly evolving financial landscape, governments worldwide are intensifying their focus on compliance in Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) efforts for financial institutions. Trade-Based Money...more
European lawmakers have reached an agreement on the world’s first comprehensive law on artificial intelligence (AI). According to the MIT Technology Review, The AI Act was conceived as a landmark bill that would mitigate...more
Trade-based money laundering (TBML) describes a set of techniques through which drug traffickers, terrorists and other criminals use the veneer of trade to move illicit funds across borders while disguising the origin and...more
Cryptocurrencies have been making the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Their values have plummeted leaving investors out of pocket. Exchanges, lenders, and other entities in the crypto ecosystem have gone bust. Numerous...more
After months of negotiations, Congress revealed the compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (NDAA) on December 6, 2022. The bill, viewed as a “must-pass” piece of legislation because...more
We previously blogged on an advisory issued by FinCEN alerting financial institutions to the various financial mechanisms used by traffickers of fentanyl and synthetic opioids to launder the burgeoning proceeds of their...more
The metaverse is still in its nascent stages, and the Chinese government is already increasingly focused on its development and regulation. At the March 2022 “Two Sessions” (两会), a term given to the back-to-back annual...more
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) remains committed to combating money laundering, in all forms, in connection with the banking and financial systems. To this end, on June 30, 2021, FinCEN issued new...more
FinCEN announces eight areas of focus and advises preparation for issuance of new regulations - On June 30, 2021, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued the first...more
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on June 30, 2021, issued national priorities for anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) policy (the Priorities), as required by the...more
Donald Rumsfeld died yesterday. When the definitive history of the 21st century is written, no one man may play a more central role than Rumsfeld. The reason? He led America into its disastrous war in Iraq. Not only was the...more
“Front” Seafood Businesses Allegedly Hid the Proceeds From Smuggled Shark Fins and Marijuana Distribution - Last week, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia unsealed an indictment returned in July,...more
On December 20, 2019, President Trump signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (“NDAA 2020”), which includes numerous sanctions-related provisions. The law includes the previously introduced...more
U.S. Developments - Enforcement and Litigation Developments - Craig Wright Faces Sanctions - Craig Wright, the self-proclaimed inventor of Bitcoin, has been tied up in litigation since February 2018 related to his...more
U.S. Developments - Veritaseum Founder Provides Response to Asset Freeze Order - Responding to an emergency application filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall of the United States...more
In its recently-published 2017 National Drug Threat Assessment (NDTA), the Drug Enforcement Administration reports that drug trafficking organizations are turning to Bitcoin and other virtual currencies to enable easy...more
In an order issued on October 16, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in United States v. Microsoft Corporation, a case with potentially far-reaching implications for the privacy of electronic data maintained by...more
The Philippines has been identified by the U.S. as a “major money-laundering country” in the 2017 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (“Report”), published this month. The country now joins 87 others as one “whose...more
We had an interesting week of anti-corruption enforcement actions last week, both in the US and the UK. We have now had four Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement actions since the announcement of the Depart Of...more
During the same week that President Barack Obama announced sweeping changes in the diplomatic and trade relationships between the United States and Cuba, the president signed congressional legislation authorizing additional...more