Category: Investigation

New ‘fraud squad’ will crack down on criminals who steal taxpayer money

A new £25 million central government taskforce that will enlist an elite team of experts to crack-down on fraudsters who attempt to steal taxpayers’ cash will be operational by the summer, the Chancellor will announce today (27 April). The Chancellor has announced that a new fraud squad, recruited from data analytics experts and leading economic crime investigators, will crack down on criminal gangs who rip off the taxpayer. Operational in July and based in the Cabinet Office, the new £25 million “Public Sector Fraud Authority” will double funding for the Government’s central counter fraud capacity. More details of the new…

Financial Crime Investigators Granted More Time

Law enforcement agencies probing suspected financial crimes have the right to additional time when necessary to properly investigate, a Scottish court has ruled. The landmark decision handed down by the Sheriff Appeal Court underlines the emphasis placed by courts on “allowing law enforcement the time and space to complete their inquiries”. It comes after the Appeal Court unanimously held that Italian chef Cristian Picco had been validly excluded from a hearing on whether his bank account should remain frozen while investigators probed suspected money laundering. The court heard that Picco first had his TSB account frozen in April 2019 after…

Police Raid Trade Union Headquarters as Part of Bribery and Fraud Investigation

Police have raided the headquarters of Unite, one of the UK’s largest and most powerful trade unions, as part of a bribery, fraud and money laundering investigation. Sky News understands 15 to 20 officers attended the search yesterday at the union’s central London headquarters and left the building with boxes of files, paper and a computer. A Unite spokesman confirmed to Sky News: “A Unite employee is subject to a criminal investigation by the police. “On Wednesday 6th April, the employee’s office at Unite HQ, in Holborn, London, was accessed and searched by the police under warrant.” The raid was…

Deutsche Bank HQ in Frankfurt Raided Over Suspected Money Laundering

German authorities have raided Deutsche Bank’s headquarters in Frankfurt over suspected money laundering at the country’s largest lender. Officers from the financial regulator BaFin, the federal police, and the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office launched a raid on the bank’s glass-panelled offices – known locally as the “twin towers” – on Friday morning after securing a search warrant from the local court. Deutsche Bank said the issue had been self-reported and it was “fully cooperating” with police and prosecutors who launched the raid on its offices at 10am. “This is an investigative measure by the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office in connection…

British Virgin Islands: Premier Andrew Fahie Arrested in U.S. Drug Sting

The leader of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) has been arrested for alleged drug smuggling and money laundering in the US. Premier Andrew Fahie was detained in Miami by US agents posing as cocaine traffickers from a Mexican drug cartel. He agreed a $700,000 (£560,000) payment to allow traffickers to use BVI ports with an undercover informant, charges filed in the US said. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has said she was “appalled” by the allegations. Mr Fahie, the elected head of government of the British overseas territory, was arrested by US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) officials in Florida, alongside senior…

Goldman Sachs fined by FCA and PRA over 1MDB in $2.9bn global resolution

Firm to clawback $174m from executives Goldman Sachs International (GSI) has been fined £96.6m by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) for risk management failures in connection with 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). In a statement, the FCA and PRA said GSI had “failed to assess and manage risk to the standard that was required given the high risk profile of the 1MDB transactions, and failed to assess risk factors on a sufficiently holistic basis”, and that GSI had also “failed to address allegations of bribery in 2013 and failed to manage allegations of misconduct in connection…

INSIGHT: U.K. Tax Authority Getting Ready to Bite on Evasion

The U.K. tax authority is indicating its intention to enforce legislation and investigate corporations for failure to prevent tax evasion. Mukul Chawla QC and Kate Ison of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP review the current status of inquiries and discuss what action organizations need to take to ensure their procedures are robust and compliant. The focus by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) on organizations, under the Criminal Finances Act 2017, for the corporate offense of failure to prevent tax evasion, appears to be making steady progress. The number of investigations and inquiries that HMRC is currently undertaking, and the wide…

What are the repercussions if a financial services firm is found guilty of facilitating tax evasion?

The offence of failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion (also known as the Corporate Criminal Offence or CCO) was introduced with great fanfare following the government initiative; ‘No Safe Havens’, which was part of an international initiative to increase tax transparency. As of 31 July 2020, HMRC announced that they had 10 CCO investigations open and a further 22 ‘opportunities under review’, meaning that HMRC are considering whether to open an investigation. Within these 32 investigations or ‘opportunities’, HMRC have disclosed that over a third relate to businesses within the financial sector. Businesses in the financial sector are…

2,600 Belgian clients involved in Credit Suisse investigation

Image Credit: Credit Suisse in Zurich. © Plaza Financiera, Flickr Commons The federal prosecutor’s office in Brussels has opened a criminal investigation into the Swiss bank Credit Suisse, in particular the dealings of 2,600 Belgian clients suspected of using Swiss bank accounts to evade taxes.  “A criminal investigation has been opened against Credit Suisse for money laundering and unlawfully acting as a financial intermediary, as well as against Belgian customers who have not yet undergone tax regularisation.” On several occasions, the tax authorities in Belgium have offered a partial amnesty to anyone wishing to repatriate money hidden in accounts abroad,…

A Hidden Tycoon, African Explosives, and a Loan from a Notorious Bank: Questionable Connections Surround Beirut Explosion Shipment

Since the devastating explosion of a store of ammonium nitrate in Beirut’s port on August 4, Lebanese citizens have taken to the streets in shock, outrage, and grief. Beirut’s Grain Silo Was One Man’s Refuge Through Years of War. On August 4, It Was Where He Died Read the story of one family’s loss from our partner Daraj.com. Above all, they have demanded answers: Where did the nearly 3,000 tons of explosive chemicals come from, and who owned it? Why did the rickety ship that brought the hazardous material to Lebanon end up stranded in the city’s port in late 2013?…

US calls for ‘significant’ jail time for Panama Papers tax crooks

“Meaningful sentences must be given… to forewarn others of the consequences for engaging in multi-year tax fraud,” prosecutors argue. By Will Fitzgibbon July 31, 2020 The first people to plead guilty following the United States government’s response to the Panama Papers investigation should spend “significant” time in jail, prosecutors say. U.S. officials last week recommended prison for Harald von der Goltz and his accountant Richard Gaffey. Both men pleaded guilty to financial crimes earlier this year and are at home on bail. “For decades, von der Goltz orchestrated a complex fraudulent scheme for the purpose of evading tax payments that he owed to the United…

How Germany’s SEC failed to act on warnings about Wirecard’s financial practices (Financial Crime Compliance Education)

Germany’s top financial supervisor received detailed warnings about deceptive financial practices at Wirecard AG starting in 2008 but repeatedly declined to investigate the allegations, turning instead against the accusers. Over more than a decade, investors, U.S. authorities, journalists and people close to the company warned of possible fraudulent accounting or money laundering, practices that are now at the heart of a criminal investigation into the disgraced fintech giant. But as the red flags piled up, Germany’s equivalent of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission played down the allegations, kicked the ball to other agencies and delayed examining the company’s accounts, according to previously unpublished documents,…

NCA and police smash thousands of criminal conspiracies after infiltration of encrypted communication platform in UK’s biggest ever law enforcement operation (National Economic Crime Agency)

NCA and police smash thousands of criminal conspiracies after infiltration of encrypted communication platform in UK’s biggest ever law enforcement operation  Operation Venetic Entire organised crime groups dismantled during Operation Venetic with 746 arrests, and £54m criminal cash, 77 firearms and over two tonnes of drugs seized so far. UK law enforcement has made a massive breakthrough in the fight against serious and organised crime after the takedown of a bespoke encrypted global communication service used exclusively by criminals. EncroChat was one of the largest providers of encrypted communications and offered a secure mobile phone instant messaging service, but an…

Superintendent Lacewell announced DFS imposes $150 million penalty of Deutsche Bank

In connection with Bank’s relationship with Jeffery Epstein and correspondent relationships with Danske Estonia and FBME Bank (Department of Financial Services) First Enforcement Action by a Regulator Against a Financial Institution for Dealings with Jeffrey Epstein  Superintendent of Financial Services Linda A. Lacewell announced today that Deutsche Bank AG, its New York branch, and Deutsche Bank Trust Company America (collectively “Deutsche Bank” or the “Bank”) have agreed to pay $150 million in penalties as part of a Consent Order entered into with the New York State Department of Financial Services (“DFS” or the “Department”) for significant compliance failures in connection…

Treasury Targets Major Iranian Metals Companies and Foreign Subsidiaries and Sales Agents

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took action against four steel, aluminum, and iron companies operating within Iran’s metals sector, including one subsidiary of Mobarakeh Steel Company — Iran’s largest steel manufacturer. Treasury is also designating one Germany-based and three United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based sales agents for being owned or controlled by Mobarakeh Steel Company. Mobarakeh Steel Company was designated in 2018 pursuant to counterterrorism authorities for providing support to Iran’s Mehr Eqtesad Iranian Investment Company, an entity designated for being owned or controlled by the IRGC-affiliated Bonyad Taavon Basij. Mobarakeh Steel Company was…

POLICE RECOVER ‘MILLIONS’ IN STOLEN TREASURES AFTER BUSTING ARCHAEOLOGICAL CRIME GANG IN BULGARIA

An international crime gang that ransacked ancient sites in Bulgaria and trafficked stolen archaeological goods whose total worth exceeds several millions of euros has been broken up as a result of an international police operation coordinated by Europol. 8 individuals were arrested and some 4,600 archaeological items were recovered as a result of this sting.  Nicknamed Operation MEDICUS, this effort was led by the General Directorate for the Fight against Organised Crime of the Bulgarian Ministry of Internal Affairs (Главна дирекция “Борба с организираната престъпност” при Министерството на вътрешните работи на Република България) together with the British Metropolitan Police and…

Founder of Anti-Money Laundering Bitcoin Project indicted for money laundering

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) indicted the founder of “AML Bitcoin” on money laundering and wire fraud charges. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also filed charges, alleging the AML Bitcoin team violated federal securities laws. According to a court filing dated June 22, Texas resident Rowland Marcus Andrade, the founder of the NAC Foundation, allegedly raised funds by conducting an initial coin offering for tokens representing AML Bitcoin, telling investors that the tokens would ultimately be converted into actual AML Bitcoin (which isn’t actual bitcoin). The SEC and DOJ also charged longtime DC lobbyist Jack Abramoff on conspiracy, lobbying disclosure and deceptive practices counts, alleging he…

Six arrested and luxury cars seized as part of drugs and money laundering conspiracy

Suspected members of an organised crime group in Merseyside have been arrested as part of a drug trafficking conspiracy. Five men, aged between 35 and 48, and a woman aged 35, were arrested in raids on Thursday 18 June, in the Wirral and Wallasey, and Deeside, by officers from the National Crime Agency, with support from Merseyside Police. All five men were apprehended on suspicion of conspiracy to import controlled drugs, conspiracy to launder money, and participating in the activities of an organised crime group. The woman was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to import controlled drugs and money laundering.…

Wirecard Files for Insolvency Following Criminal Investigation

German payment and financial services provider, Wirecard, announced on Thursday that it would file for insolvency just days after its former CEO surrendered to authorities following an arrest warrant they issued against him over a missing 1.9 billion euros (US$ 2.13 billion) the firm claimed probably “do not exist.” According to German prosecutors in Munich, former CEO Dr. Markus Braun, possibly in collaboration with other individuals, managed to artificially inflate the company’s assets and sales in order to make it more appealing to both investors and customers. He was released from jail on Tuesday after posting five million euros ($5.6 million) in…