Category: Due Diligence

U.S. Charges Tech CEO Russian Over Hidden Ownership

Due Diligence
US prosecutors have charged Lee Reiber, chief executive of digital forensics firm Oxygen Forensics, and Russian national Oleg Davydov with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. They allege the company concealed its Russian ownership and Russia-based software development while selling forensic tools to US government agencies. According to the complaint, Oxygen presented itself to government customers as an independent American company, when Davydov and four other Russian nationals owned and controlled it through a holding company in Cyprus. The same five also owned Moscow-based Oxygen Software LLC, now MKO Systems LLC, where Davydov was chief technology officer. The developers who wrote…

New York Regulator Fines Nordea $35 Million for Compliance Failures

Due Diligence, Prosecutions
The New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) has reached a $35 million settlement with Nordea Bank Abp over serious compliance failures and inadequate due diligence practices. The settlement, announced on August 27, 2024, by DFS Superintendent Adrienne A. Harris, follows an extensive investigation into the bank’s role in facilitating potentially illicit financial activities. The investigation, sparked by the 2016 Panama Papers leak, revealed Nordea’s involvement in helping hundreds of customers create tax-sheltered companies using offshore accounts. Further scrutiny uncovered the bank’s connections to major money laundering schemes, including the Russian Laundromat, the Azerbaijani Laundromat, and the Hermitage Capital Allegations.…

‘Credit Suisse Papers’ Leak Shows How Lender Banked Criminals and Tyrants with Little Due Diligence

Due Diligence, Money Laundering
TROUBLED Switzerland banking giant Credit Suisse was thrown into further crisis today as a massive data leak revealed a client list involved in money laundering, torture, drug trafficking and corruption. The data dump shows up massive failures of due diligence by Credit Suisse despite repeated promises by the bank that it would end relationships with dodgy clients and illicit funds. The Suisse Papers also shed light on one of the world’s largest and most secretive financial centres, based out of Geneva and Zurich, and grown used to operating in the shadows. Swiss financial institutions manage about 7.9tn CHF (€7.56tn) in…

The Increasing Regulatory Requirement of Supply Chain Due Diligence Compliance

Due Diligence
The requirement for businesses to do supply chain due diligence in order to comply with modern slavery and other environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) rules has steadily increased in the past few years. The pace of change has increased with individual countries introducing their own homemade rules, EU legislation is on its way, and potential litigation is looming in at least one European country. The fact that many of these local rules have extra-territorial effect provides for a complex and fragmented compliance framework where international businesses operating across a number of jurisdictions will need to adhere to a range…