Month: October 2023

DWS Agrees to Pay $25m for AML Violations and ESG Misstatements

Money Laundering, Prosecutions
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken action against registered investment adviser DWS Investment Management Americas Inc. (DIMA or DWS), a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank AG, for multiple violations related to Anti-Money Laundering (AML) programs and misrepresentations regarding Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investments. As part of the settlement, DWS will pay a total of $25 million in penalties. Anti-Money Laundering Violations: In the AML enforcement action, the SEC’s order determined that DIMA caused mutual funds under its advisement to fail in developing and implementing an AML program consistent with the requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act and applicable…

OFAC Sanctions Mexican and Colombian Nationals Involved in Sinaloa Cartel

Digital Currencies, Sanctions
On September 26, 2023, the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned 10 individuals involved in illegal fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine trafficking into the United States on behalf of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel. As we’ll explore below, one of those individuals controls an Ethereum address that was included as an identifier on his SDN List entry. Today’s actions represent a coordinated effort between OFAC, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Government of Mexico’s La Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera, and the Colombia Counternarcotics Working Group. Who are the sanctioned individuals and what did they do?Nine of…

EY Pays Back £15m to Santander UK

Money Laundering
SANTANDER UK’s fincrime consultants EY have paid back £15M to the bank – and no longer work for the lender, it’s been revealed. A dispute between the banking giant and the Big Four has led to the prospect of redundancies in EY’s fincrime division in the UK. EY had been recruited to work on the bank’s so-called “Project Morgan” but there was a dispute over the quality of assistance, which has now resulted in the multi-million pound refund and termination of contract. The dispute centred on the quality of work performed by EY which Santander claimed was poor, leading the…

Why keeping the UAE on FATF’s ‘grey list’ makes no sense to me

FATF, Money Laundering
June 23rd, 2023, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) have requested continued focus on the Action Plan for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and won’t be taking the UAE off the grey list early. In fact, the UAE has completed all the requirements to be taken off the list, however, the FATF traditionally does not automatically remove a grey listed country when this happens and they wait to see a continuing trend of compliance with its requirements. Initially, on 4th March 2022, UAE was added to the list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring (“Grey List”) by the FATF. Grey Listing…

U.S. Company Pays Hundreds of Millions After Alleged Bribery in Asia

Bribery, Corruption, Regulatory Fines
American chemical manufacturer Albemarle Corporation has agreed to pay more than $218 million to settle allegations of bribing officials at state oil refineries in three Asian countries, the U.S. Justice Department announced Friday. The North Carolina company admitted to using “third-party sales agents” and foreign employees to bribe officials to win contracts with state refineries in India, Indonesia and Vietnam, the department said. The department said Albemarle received nearly $100 million in profits from the corrupt scheme. Under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the United States, it is illegal to bribe any foreign official in exchange for obtaining or…

India: Government weaponizing terrorism financing watchdog recommendations against civil society

Counter Terrorist Financing
Indian authorities are exploiting the recommendations of a global terrorism financing and money laundering watchdog to target civil society groups and activists and deliberately hinder their work, said Amnesty International in a new briefing released today. “Weaponizing counter-terrorism: India’s exploitation of terrorism financing assessments to target civil society” reveals how the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)—a global body responsible for tackling terrorism financing and money laundering—have been abused by the Indian authorities to bring in draconian laws in a coordinated campaign to stifle the non-profit sector. These laws are in turn used to bring terrorism-related charges and,…

Cyprus to Tighten Crypto Regulations in Accordance with FATF

Digital Currencies, Regulation
One of the friendliest European jurisdictions to crypto, Cyprus, might bring its industry regulation to tighter standards. According to an Oct. 10 report by the Cyprus Mail, the Cypriot Ministry of Finance intends to amend the existing Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law. The ministry has presented its amendments package to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal Affairs, Justice and Public Order. It seeks to align Cyprus with international standards for Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), as well as the recommendations of…

Indonesia’s Former Agriculture Minister Named in Corruption Probe

Corruption
An Indonesian former government minister has been named as a suspect in a corruption probe and accused of pocketing more than US$800,000 of public money, a week after resigning from his post. Syahrul Yasin Limpo, who until recently led the agriculture ministry, is the sixth minister investigated over corruption since President Joko Widodo took office in 2014. Graft remains rampant in the massive archipelago nation, where politicians are widely seen as among the most corrupt. Limpo regularly took “illegal levies from civil servants at the agricultural ministry to pay for his and his core family’s personal needs”, Johanis Tanak, deputy…

FinCEN Proposes New Regulation to Combat Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing

Counter Terrorist Financing, Money Laundering, Regulation
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has taken a significant step in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing by announcing a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM). This NPRM identifies international Convertible Virtual Currency Mixing (CVC mixing) as a class of transactions of primary money laundering concern. The move comes in response to growing concerns regarding the extensive use of CVC mixing services by various illicit actors worldwide, including state-affiliated cyber actors, cybercriminals, and terrorist groups such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). The proposed rule…

Switzerland Probing Hamas Financing: Attorney General

Counter Terrorist Financing
The Swiss judiciary is investigating possible financing of Hamas from Switzerland despite the country not classifying the group as a terrorist organisation, its attorney general said Saturday. The investigation was opened “several weeks” before the October 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel, Stefan Blaettler said, on Swiss public radio station SRF, without revealing further details. The Attorney General’s office later told AFP that the investigation was launched “on suspicion of financing Hamas from Switzerland”. The investigation is expected to be laborious because, unlike the European Union and United States, Switzerland has not placed bans on Hamas. But since the attack,…

Albania’s Former PM Sali Berisha Faces Corruption Charges Over Land Privatisation Scandal

Corruption, Money Laundering, Prosecutions
Sali Berisha and his son-in-law face corruption charges related to the alleged misuse of political influence, and Berisha is barred from leaving the country.Albania’s former prime minister Sali Berisha says that prosecutors have charged him with corruption and money laundering in connection with a land deal involving a Tirana property.Berisha, 79, said the prosecutor’s office in charge of cases against senior officials or major cases, ordered him not to leave the country. Berisha also said his son-in-law, 50-year-old Jamarber Malltezi, was arrested on the same charges at Tirana International Airport. Berisha said both he and Malltezi are innocent.“On these charges…

UK’s Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act receives Royal Assent

Money Laundering, Regulation
Robust laws to fight fraud, counter corruption and bolster legitimate business received Royal Assent today. The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act introduces world-leading powers which will allow UK authorities to proactively target organised criminals and others seeking to abuse the UK’s open economy. Companies House will receive enhanced abilities to verify the identities of company directors, remove fraudulent organisations from the company register and share information with criminal investigation agencies Law enforcement agencies will benefit from greater powers to seize, freeze and recover cryptoassets, while groundbreaking legal reforms will allow the courts to dismiss spurious lawsuits which seek to…

Money Mules Special Edition

Money Laundering
Hello and welcome to the 22nd issue of the UKFIU’s magazine SARs in Action. In this special edition wefocus on the issue of money mules, starting with an article examining common indicators of money mule accounts… Article Credit: https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/who-we-are/publications/675-sars-in-action-issue-22/file

Retired couple lied to bank while under the scammers spell

Fraud
A retired couple lied to their banks after falling under the spell of scammers who stole £86,000.Ann and James were so “brainwashed” by the promise of giving money to their children they lied when banks tried to stop their payments to fraudsters. The couple, both retired nurses, were scammed into taking out loans as well as handing over their life-savings. The financial industry said the scam tactic, known as ‘The Spell’, was the biggest challenge it faced.Ann and James, who has prostate cancer, were lured into putting their money into a bogus cryptocurrency platform after spotting an advert on social…

Criminals steal over half a billion pounds and nearly 80& of APP Fraud starts online

Fraud
UK Finance today releases its half-year fraud report, detailing the amount its members reported as stolen through fraud and scams in the first half of 2023.  Ben Donaldson, Managing Director of Economic Crime at UK Finance, said: In the first six months of this year ruthless criminals had already stolen more than half a billion pounds from victims through fraud. In addition to the financial losses, these crimes often involve callous manipulation of the victim which can cause psychological and emotional harm. As the UK Finance report shows, criminals are increasingly using social media, online platforms, texts, phone calls and…

Off the shelf AML policies put firms and clients at risk

Regulation, Regulatory Risk
The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) 2022/23 anti-money laundering (AML) report warns of the risks posed by common AML issues. Find out what steps you and your firm can take to comply with your obligations. The SRA carried out 177 law firm inspections and 73 desk-based reviews between April 2022 and April 2023. One in three (30%) of firms inspected were fully compliant with their AML obligations, with just over half (51%) partially compliant. But the SRA found 19% of firms to be non-compliant, resulting in corrective or enforcement action. Alongside the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT), the SRA has: submitted 24…

Brazil must make urgent key reforms to build on its recent progress in the fight against foreign bribery

Bribery, Corruption
9/10/2023 – Brazil has sanctioned large-scale foreign bribery schemes through non-trial resolutions with three legal persons, including as part of one of the most prominent multi-jurisdictional resolutions to date involving foreign bribery allegations. While the Working Group commends Brazil for this success, nevertheless Brazil has only a limited number of enforcement proceedings still ongoing. No natural person has yet received a final conviction for bribery of a foreign public official. The 45-country Working Group has just completed its Phase 4 evaluation of Brazil’s implementation of the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and related…

Couple with S$325 million in assets seized in billion-dollar money laundering case denied bail

Money Laundering
SINGAPORE: A couple, among the 10 people charged in a S$2.8 billion (US$2 billion) money laundering probe, turned to court on Wednesday (Oct 18) to seek bail but failed in their attempt. The combined assets between Chinese nationals Lin Baoying, 44, and Zhang Ruijin, 45, come to about S$325 million, with Lin having the larger share of the pie. In the exchange of arguments between the prosecution and defence, with affidavits from the investigating officers involved, more information about their backgrounds were revealed. Lin faces three charges for forging documents to sell a property in Macau and for lying that…

‘El Chapo of the Cotswolds’ accused of helping to run $6.5m drugs racket from home near Bristol

Money Laundering
A man dubbed the ‘El Chapo of the Cotswolds’ faces extradition to the US on six drug charges. Matthew Grimm, a 49-year-old father of two who lives near Bristol, is accused of helping to run a $6.5million drugs racket and faces up to 120 years in prison. Officers from the National Crime Agency detained him last November after the US issued a warrant. Grimm is accused of shipping substances to US-based customers from the Netherlands via an online portal called Smokey’s Chem Site. As reported by The Mirror, the alleged operation began in 2012 and was shut down by an…

Environmental crime money easy to stash in US due to loopholes, report finds

Money Laundering
Secrecy and lax oversight have made the US a hiding place for dirty money accrued by environmental criminals in the Amazon rainforest, a report says. Illegal loggers and miners are parking sums ranging from millions to billions of dollars in US real estate and other assets, says the report, which calls on Congress and the White House to close loopholes in financial regulations that it says are contributing to the destruction of the world’s biggest tropical forest. “We are trying to show that the US is the easiest place to hide dirty money, which is a major problem not just…