Category: Money Laundering

Unexplained Wealth Orders: Suspected money launderer gives up £10m of property

Money Laundering
Around £10m of property has been surrendered in a major victory against some of northern England’s most dangerous criminals. The apartments and homes were given up to the National Crime Agency by a Leeds businessman who investigators suspect of being a major money-launderer.  The NCA says Mansoor Mahmood Hussain acted for gangsters, including a murderer and drug trafficker. The agency believes he laundered their profits through a property empire.  Over two decades, Mr Hussain, known as Manni, developed his portfolio across West Yorkshire, Cheshire and London while posing as a legitimate businessman.  His social media accounts show him living a…

Leicester textile firms ‘involved in money laundering

Money Laundering
A network of clothing manufacturers in Leicester are involved in money laundering and VAT fraud, a BBC investigation has found. The companies are based in the city’s garment district where a local MP said such activity was “endemic”. Some of the firms involved have supplied fast fashion brands, including Boohoo. Boohoo told the BBC it would never knowingly conduct business with anyone acting outside of the law. It has now terminated its relationship with one of the firms highlighted by the investigation by BBC Radio 4’s File on 4. Leicester textile firms face enforcement action Clothes factories ‘doubled staff during pandemic’…

Crown chairman Helen Coonan admits casino ‘facilitated’ money laundering

Money Laundering
The former Howard government minister insists, however, that Crown didn’t turn a blind eye to illegal activity The Crown Resorts chairman, Helen Coonan, has admitted the company facilitated money laundering at its Melbourne casino but denied it was “turning a blind eye” to criminal activity instead blaming it on “ineptitude”. The concession was made at the New South Wales Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority’s inquiry into Crown’s suitability to hold a Sydney casino licence. Coonan was asked on Tuesday about Crown’s relationship with SunCity, a high-roller junket partner with alleged criminal links. She was challenged on why Crown did not shut down SunCity’s private…

UK financial regulator failed to prosecute half of money-laundering criminal probes

Money Laundering
The UK financial regulator has discontinued half of its criminal investigations into breaches of the money laundering rules since January, and is yet to bring a single prosecution — despite a pledge to make full use of its powers. Figures released under a freedom of information request show that, in the year to date, seven out of 14 criminal investigations into contraventions of the money launderingregulations have been shut down by the Financial Conduct Authority. Five of these were “single track”, or solely criminal, probes, while the other two were “dual track” investigations that could have resulted in either criminal or civil proceedings. As a…

COVID-19: Trends in money laundering and terrorism financing

Money Laundering
COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS ON THE EVALUATION OF ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING MEASURES AND THE FINANCING OF TERRORISM (MONEYVAL) STRASBOURG The Council of Europe’s MONEYVAL Committee has issued a report aimed at helping the global community to counter new criminal activities which are exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic, including the sale of counterfeit medicines and cybercrime. The Committee, which specialises in measures to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing, focuses in its new report on threats, vulnerabilities and best practices. The aim is to assist policymakers, practitioners and the private sector in applying a more targeted and effective response to the money laundering and terrorist financing risks in Europe. The report found…

AUSTRAC and Westpac agree to proposed $1.3bn penalty

Corruption, Money Laundering
Westpac and AUSTRAC have today agreed to a 1.3 billion dollar proposed penalty over Westpac’s breaches of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act). Westpac and AUSTRAC have agreed that the proposed penalty reflects the seriousness and magnitude of compliance failings by Westpac. The Federal Court of Australia will now consider the proposed settlement and penalty. If the Federal Court determines the proposed penalty is appropriate, the penalty order made will represent the largest ever civil penalty in Australian history.  In reaching today’s agreement, Westpac has admitted to contravening the AML/CTF Act on over 23 million occasions, exposing Australia’s…

FATF Releases Updated Virtual Assets Red Flag Indicators of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Report

Money Laundering
The Financial Action Task Force(FATF), an intergovernmental organization that develops policies to combat money laundering and terrorism financing, has released an updated report, titled, Virtual Assets Red Flag Indicators of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. Published on September 14, 2020, the report notes that virtual or digital assets have been using innovative technology to quickly transfer value, globally, and may offer certain benefits, such as making digital payments faster and at more competitive rates. However, the FATF cautions that the anonymity associated with virtual assets can “attract criminals, who have used [them] to launder proceeds from a range of offenses such as…

How Anonymous Companies Are Used to Launder Money in U.S. Real Estate

Money Laundering
Alongside the world’s worst COVID-19 death rates, the United States is facing an impending economic recession following the first wave of the pandemic. But, while millions of Americans struggle to stay afloat amid record job losses, there is a sector that seems strangely unaffected by the post-pandemic economic fallout: Real estate purchases. Alarmingly, in the U.S., there are few regulations and checks of who is purchasing homes. As a result, housing remains a key vehicle for criminals looking to stash cash, launder money, and buy up homes in a tight market. In the wake of the 2008 recession, the U.S. real estate…

Virtual Assets Red Flag Indicators of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing

Money Laundering, Organised Crime
Download the PDF Here. Paris, 14 September 2020 – Virtual assets use innovative technology to swiftly transfer value around the world and have many potential benefits, including making payments faster and cheaper. But the anonymity associated with them also attracts criminals, who have used virtual assets to launder proceeds from a range of offences such as the drugs trade, illegal arms smuggling, fraud, tax evasion, cyber attacks, sanctions evasion, child exploitation and human trafficking. In response, the FATF Report Virtual Assets – Red Flag Indiciators of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing will help national authorities detect whether virtual assets are being used for…

What the FinCEN files tell us about the UK’s role as an enabler of corruption & money laundering – and what needs to change.

Money Laundering
The FinCEN files, more than 2,500 documents relating to $2tn (£1.56tn) of transactions, have once again highlighted the vast amount of illicit wealth that flows through the global economy.  This is a great piece of journalism that paints a vivid picture of the dirty money being handled by the financial sector. Nothing about this story, however, should come as a surprise. The UK Government has stated that roughly £100 billion of illicit wealth impacts the economy every year. And that’s just the UK. It’s not a surprise that the leak shows how UK banks continually failed to address suspicious activity and instead…

Thousands of secrets suspicious activity reposted offer never-before-seen picot of corruption and complicity – and how the government lets it flourish.

Money Laundering
This is part of the FinCEN Files investigation. A huge trove of secret government documents reveals for the first time how the giants of Western banking move trillions of dollars in suspicious transactions, enriching themselves and their shareholders while facilitating the work of terrorists, kleptocrats, and drug kingpins. And the US government, despite its vast powers, fails to stop it. Today, the FinCEN Files — thousands of “suspicious activity reports” and other US government documents — offer an unprecedented view of global financial corruption, the banks enabling it, and the government agencies that watch as it flourishes. BuzzFeed News has shared…

Eight-year NCA investigation denies organised crime group £17 million property portfolio

Drug Trafficking, Fraud, Money Laundering
Fifty nine properties worth an estimated £17 million have been recovered following National Crime Agency investigations into a prolific organised crime group carried out over almost a decade. In addition to a successful criminal investigation, the NCA conducted four linked civil recovery investigations over an eight-and-a-half year period into dozens of individuals who were suspected of financial links to drug dealers in East Birmingham. NCA officers established that the properties were acquired using the proceeds of crime including heroin importation and distribution, fraud and money laundering. Alam and Ameran Zeb Khan have both been convicted of drug trafficking offences, the…

A U.S. judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit accusing Denmark’s Danske Bank A/S and four former top executives of defrauding shareholders by hiding and failing to stop widespread money laundering at its former Estonian branch.

Money Laundering
U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan said shareholders in the proposed class action failed to sufficiently plead that the bank improperly reported revenue derived from money laundering or downplayed its supervision failures. She also said the plaintiffs, led by four pension funds in New York and Massachusetts, failed to show that Danske acted recklessly or with conscious disregard that its statements were false and misleading. “They allege in a conclusory way that defendants and employees of (Danske) received reports contradicting public statements, and fail to connect any of those reports to specific representations by specific persons,” Caproni wrote. The…

Banks and financial institutions need to assess money-laundering risks and conduct appropriate due diligence when dealing with foreign public officials and their families or associates, five regulatory agencies said.

Money Laundering
People who are considered politically exposed may pose higher risks because their funds may be the proceeds of corruption or other illicit activities, the banking regulators said in a joint statement. The agencies added, however, that risks associated with politically exposed individuals vary and not all of them are automatically higher risk. The agencies don’t include U.S. public officials in the politically exposed persons category. “The risk depends on facts and circumstances specific to the customer relationship,” said the statement issued Friday by the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the National…

Extending criminal liability for money laundering: update on Germany’s new draft law implementing the latest EU AML directive

Money Laundering
August 21 2020 In January, a draft bill reforming the crime of money laundering in Germany (section 261 of the German Criminal Code (StGB)) was leaked. In a February blog post, we criticised how broad the suggested definition was. Last week, the official draft bill was published by the Federal Ministry of Justice. Much to the surprise of German anti-money laundering (AML) circles, it goes even further. The most important change compared to the unofficial draft and the law in place today is the complete elimination of a catalogue of suitable predicate offences. A ‘predicate offence’ is the underlying crime that…

Will the e-money boom make the UK a hub of money laundering?

Money Laundering
openDemocracy investigation finds that international money launderers are moving into Britain’s e-money business – with the Financial Conduct Authority’s official seal of approval. Article By David Leask Richard Smith COVID is killing cash. Even as lockdowns loosen, consumers are turning away from notes and coins like never before. A survey in April found four out of five Britons – many forced to do all their shopping online – were considering new digital ways to pay. Some are turning to ‘e-money’, with a raft of new money-handling products aiming to challenge industry leader PayPal. From a health point of view, this…

Global Witness exposes international Syrian – Russian money laundering network financing brutal Al-Assad regime (Global Witness)

Money Laundering
New report shows how Syrian-Russian money laundering network uses anonymous companies in the EU and UK Overseas Territories Read the full report, Assad’s Money Men in Moscow, here. Global Witness reveals today the workings of a Syrian-Russian money laundering network that has helped prop up President Bashar al-Assad’s regime during the ongoing armed conflict. This assistance ranged from helping the regime purchase fuel and banknotes to providing front companies possibly used by its chemical weapons and ballistic missiles programme. Close associates of the network also appear to have helped embargoed North Korean firms evade UN sanctions.  The report, Assad’s Money Men…

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

Investigation, 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

Investigation, Money Laundering
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.…

Police bust alleged B1bn drug-money laundering operation

Money Laundering
Police arrested six people during raids in Samut Prakan and Nonthaburi and seized assets worth about 100 million baht on Wednesday, in an operation aimed at suspects in the laundering of a billion baht of drug traffickers’ money. Six premises were searched in Samut Prakan. The prime location was house 129/72 in the Chaiyapruek housing estate in tambon Bang Muang of Muang district. It belonged to Naruepol Phapphithee and his wife Patthama Buathong, who were named in arrest warrants. Police suspect them of laundering money for several drug gang leaders, including Pannawit Prathum, aka Kokae, and Theppabut Solo, who is…