Month: December 2020

2020: We cast a cold eye over the 15 major highlights of a financial crime year in review

Bribery, Corruption, Money Laundering
As we near the end of one of the toughest years for people and businesses in decades, we take a look back at some of the biggest happenings in the world of financial crime, corruption and the laws in place to stop it. 1. Cryptocurrency: the way of the future2020 has seen governments across the world tighten their grip on virtual assets. They were once seen as an easy pathway to launder money, but this year, the trend accelerates away from that. This month, France announced sweeping new KYC measures for all crypto companies operating within its borders. Registration will…

Putin’s Ex-Son-in-Law Bought $380M Stake in Petrochemicals Giant for $100 – Investigation

Corruption
President Vladimir Putin’s former son-in-law purchased $380 million worth of shares in Russia’s top petrochemicals company for $100 after marrying the president’s daughter, according to a report by the iStories investigative outlet. Kirill Shamalov acquired 3.8% of petrochemicals producer Sibur through a web of offshore companies months after marrying Katerina Tikhonova in February 2013, iStories reported, citing private emails obtained through a massive data breach. Multiple media reports have identified Tikhonova as the younger of Putin’s two daughters. Shamalov previously estimated Sibur’s value at $10 billion, meaning that the $100 he had paid was 3.8 million times below market value.…

Advocates Celebrate Major US Anti-Money Laundering Victory

Money Laundering
Landmark laws to thwart the use of U.S. shell companies by terrorists, human traffickers, arms dealers and kleptocrats are set to be enacted after more than a decade of lobbying and politicking with rare bipartisan support. The sweeping anti-money laundering reforms hitched a lift in the annual defense spending bill that passed the Senate 84-13 today, and was approved by the House 355-78 earlier this week. The Corporate Transparency Act requires U.S. companies to report their true owners to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN — largely ending anonymous shell companies in the country. The International…

The Hague Court of Appeal wants the Public Prosecution Service to prosecute Ralph Hamers, former CEO of ING Bank

Money Laundering
In 2018, due to a failing anti-money laundering policy, ING Bank reached a settlement of 775 million euros with the Public Prosecution Service. Ralph Hamers remained out of harm’s way. Pieter Lakeman, chairman of Stichting Onderzoek Bedrijfs Informatie (SOBI) asked the Court of Appeal to compel the Public Prosecution Service to prosecute Ralph Hamers, who has been CEO of the Swiss bank UBS since September. The Court considers it important “that the standard is confirmed in public criminal proceedings and that bank directors cannot go unpunished if prohibited conduct actually took place during their leadership. Citizens must be able to…

Harrods mega-spender loses Supreme Court challenge

Unexplained Wealth Orders
The Supreme Court has rejected an attempt by a woman who spent £16m in Harrods to overturn the UK’s first Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO). Zamira Hajiyeva, wife of a jailed banker, may now lose her £12m London home – and a separate golf course – if she can’t explain her riches. The court said her challenge to the UWO raised no arguable point of law. Mrs Hajieyva’s husband is in jail in Azerbaijan for embezzling millions of pounds from a state bank. Offshore companies connected to the family own Mrs Hajiyeva’s home on an exclusive street in Knightsbridge, as well…

National Risk Assessment of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing 2020

Download, Money Laundering
The 2020 national risk assessment (NRA) is the third comprehensive assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing risk in the UK. National risk assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing 2020 – PDF, 1.24MB, 152 pages DetailsThe NRA sets out the key money laundering and terrorist financing risks for the UK, how these have changed since the UK’s second NRA was published in 2017, and the action taken since 2017 to address these risks. Article credit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-risk-assessment-of-money-laundering-and-terrorist-financing-2020

Congress has released the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes reforms that would effectively end fully anonymous shell companies.

Money Laundering
The United States looks set to overhaul the country’s anti-money-laundering legislation, after widely-supported provisions were officially included in a must-pass annual defense spending bill on Thursday. The reforms, based on proposals by bipartisan groups of lawmakers from both the Senate and the House of Representatives, would mandate that companies in the U.S. report their ultimate owners to the Treasury Department, effectively ending fully anonymous shell companies. The provisions will also see the U.S. strengthen its financial intelligence work, including bulking up the data collection of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN, and increasing international cooperation between financial…

Norway’s DNB facing potential $45M AML fine

Money Laundering
DNB ASA, Norway’s largest financial services group, announced Monday it is facing a potential fine of NOK 400 million (U.S. $45.4 million) for inadequate compliance with the Norwegian Anti-Money Laundering Act. The penalty, which has been proposed as part of a preliminary report issued by the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway (Finanstilsynet), derives from a routine inspection of DNB’s AML controls conducted in February. “The possible fine that DNB has been notified of is not related to any suspicions of money laundering or complicity in money laundering, but rather what Finanstilsynet considers to be inadequate compliance with the anti-money laundering…

Money laundering and terrorist financing indicators – Virtual currency transactions

Money Laundering
This guidance on suspicious transactions is applicable to all reporting entities (REs) that are subject to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLTFA) and associated Regulations. It is recommended that this guidance be read in conjunction with other suspicious transaction report (STR) guidance, including: What is a suspicious transaction? Reporting suspicious transactions to FINTRAC Money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF) indicators are potential red flags that could initiate suspicion or indicate that something may be unusual in the absence of a reasonable explanation. Red flags typically stem from one or more factual characteristics, behaviours, patterns…

Money laundering and financing of terrorism: Warsaw Convention report assesses the monitoring of banking operations

Money Laundering, Terrorism
The Conference of the Parties of the Warsaw Convention, responsible for monitoring the implementation of the treaty, has published a report assessing the way its states parties monitor banking operations to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The report concludes that the majority of states parties – although with significant differences – apply articles 7(2c) and 19(1) of the convention, which provide a specific tool to competent authorities to monitor, during a specified period, the banking operations that are being carried out through one or more identified accounts. The report also issues a number of general and country…

New EU sanctions regime is an important achievement but leaves the door open to dirty money

Sanctions
Global Witness, Transparency International EU, Open Society European Policy Institute and twelve other organisations welcome adoption of a new sanctions regime by the European Union to target human rights abusers worldwide. However, we urge the EU to adopt a complementary sanctions regime targeting non-EU nationals involved in corruption and align itself with other existing regimes in the US or Canada and in development in the UK. Today, the European Council announced adoption of the new Global Human RightsSanctions Regime. The regime tackles crimes against humanity, arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings. It also targets those responsible for human trafficking, sexual violence,…

U.S. investigation report hits SEB, Swedbank and Danske Bank shares

Money Laundering
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – The Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI are investigating SEB, Swedbank and Danske Bank over possible breaches of U.S. anti-money laundering regulations and fraud, Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri reported on Tuesday, sending the banks’ shares lower. Sweden had received requests for help from U.S. authorities investigating a Baltic money-laundering scandal that has already led to local fines for Swedbank, Danske and SEB, the newspaper reported. The banks were being investigated by the DOJ, the FBI and federal police and a federal prosecutor in New York over possible fraud and breaches of anti-money laundering regulations, it added. Although…

Switzerland charges Credit Suisse in Bulgarian money laundering probe

Money Laundering
ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss prosecutors charged Credit Suisse on Thursday over alleged failings related to a Bulgarian crime ring involving top-level wrestlers accused of laundering cocaine trafficking proceeds more than a decade ago. Switzerland’s attorney general (OAG) said in a statement that an unnamed former Credit Suisse manager and two alleged members of the criminal organisation had also been indicted in the Swiss Federal Criminal Court. “(Credit Suisse) is accused of failing to take all the organisational measures that were reasonable and required to prevent the laundering of assets belonging to and under the control of the criminal organisation,” it…

UK Sanctions Statutory Instruments Review – Individual regime

Sanctions
The individual regime reviews are listed below. These documents are for the individual UK sanctions SI reviews and along with the numerical section review, they also separate the findings into high, medium and low impact sections.” AFGHANISTAN BOSNIA BURMA BURUNDI CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC CHEMICAL WEAPONS COUNTER TERRORISM (INTERNATIONAL) CYBER DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO EGYPT GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS GUINEA HAITI IRAN (HUMAN RIGHTS) IRAN IRAQ ISIL (DA’ESH) AND AL-QAIDA LEBANON (ASSASSINATION OF RAFIQ HARIRI AND OTHERS) LEBANON MALI MOLDOVA NICARAGUA NORTH KOREA REPUBLIC OF BELARUS REPUBLIC OF GUINEA-BISSAU RUSSIA SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO SOMALIA SOUTH SUDAN SUDAN SYRIA (UN) SYRIA VENEZUELA…

Three arrests in money laundering, romance fraud and bounce back loan scam investigation

Fraud, Money Laundering
The National Crime Agency’s Complex Financial Crime Team has arrested three suspected members of an organised crime group involved in high level money laundering and fraud. The two men and one woman , aged 48, 43 and 45, were detained yesterday following raids at properties in the Bexleyheath and Dartford areas of London. They were questioned and have been released pending further investigation. This action is part of a wider operation targeting global fraud and the subsequent movement of money taken from victims. The alleged offending involves large scale identity theft, and the use of numerous false bank accounts to…

The Bank Fines 2020 report reveals the list of banks that faced the biggest fines in 2020

Regulatory Fines
The Bank Fines 2020 report reveals the list of banks that faced the biggest fines in 2020 on a Year-to-Date (YTD) basis. Fines were imposed by regulators for breaches of different protocols like Anti-Money Laundering (AML), violation of Know Your Customer (KYC) and operating guidelines, personal data leaks, among others. Key findings Total aggregated bank fines in 2020 = €11.87B The largest fine was issued to Goldman Sachs = €3.3B U.S. has the most separate banks fined = 8 The most common violation = Anti-money laundering breaches Bank Fines Ranked Rank Country Bank Fine Source 1 US Goldman Sachs €3.30B…

Quarterly report to Parliament: 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020 (‘TAFA 2010’)

Sanctions
Written Ministerial StatementOperation of the UK’s Counter-Terrorist Asset Freezing Regime: 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020 The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (John Glen): Under the Terrorist Asset-Freezing etc. Act 2010 (TAFA 2010), the Treasury is required to prepare a quarterly report regarding its exercise of the powers conferred on it by Part 1 of TAFA 2010. This written statement satisfies that requirement for the period 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020. This report also covers the UK’s implementation of the UN’s ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida asset freezing regime (ISIL-AQ), and the operation of the EU’s asset freezing…