Category: Prosecutions

SEC Charges Crypto Entrepreneur Justin Sun and his Companies for Fraud and Other Securities Law Violations

Fraud, Prosecutions
Eight celebrities also charged for illegal touting of Sun’s crypto asset securities FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE2023-59Washington D.C., March 22, 2023 —The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against crypto asset entrepreneur Justin Sun and three of his wholly-owned companies, Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Ltd., and Rainberry Inc. (formerly BitTorrent), for the unregistered offer and sale of crypto asset securities Tronix (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT). The SEC also charged Sun and his companies with fraudulently manipulating the secondary market for TRX through extensive wash trading, which involves the simultaneous or near-simultaneous purchase and sale of a security to make it…

UK Gambling Commission Fines 32Red and Platinum Gaming £7M for AML, Social Responsibility Failures

Money Laundering, Prosecutions
BRITAIN’S Gambling Commission today fined 32Red and Platinum Gaming with a €7.1M fine for AML and other failings. The Commission said the penalty on the online operator owned by Kindred Group Plc was also to includes social responsibility failures. “These failures highlight clearly that both operators failed to interact with customers in a way which minimises the risk of them experiencing harms associated with gambling,” said Kay Roberts, executive director of the Gambling Commission. The regulator said financial triggers for anti-money laundering reviews at 32Red were too high and not appropriate to effectively manage money laundering and terrorist financing risks,…

Ericsson agrees to $206m plea bargain with US in bribery case

Bribery, Prosecutions
Swedish telecom giant Ericsson has agreed to plead guilty and pay a $206 million fine for breaching its deferred prosecution deal with U.S. authorities by withholding information about its alleged misconduct in Iraq and other countries. In 2019, Ericsson admitted to accusations of bribery and other wrongdoing in multiple countries and paid a record $1 billion fine under a deferred prosecution agreement struck with the U.S. Department of Justice. The deal allowed the company to avoid a criminal conviction but required it to report any potential wrongdoing and submit to the scrutiny of an outside monitor over a three-year period.…

Man Extradited from Peru on International Money Laundering Charges

Money Laundering, Prosecutions
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Belize City, Belize, man was extradited to the United States Tuesday on charges of laundering tens of millions of dollars of drug proceeds on behalf of notorious international drug trafficking organizations. According to court documents, Jianxing Chen, 42, led and controlled a network of couriers who transported cash generated by the domestic sale of controlled substances. Some of the cash came from cocaine sales throughout the United States – including Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, as well as in the Eastern District of Virginia.  At Chen’s direction, couriers transported drug money across the country…

City fund managers sentenced to 12 years for $8m fraud

Fraud, Prosecutions
Three fund managers have been sentenced to a total of 12 years and 3 months following their conviction for a fraud which resulted in losses of $8.45 million to the Libyan Sovereign Wealth Fund. A seven year NCA investigation, which began after one of the fund managers, Frederic Marino, walked of a 2014 meeting with financial auditors and fled to Norway, found that Yoshika Ohmura, Aurelien Bessot and Marino had abused their positions to conduct fraudulent trades whilst managing the fund worth around 822m. Today, Marino and Ohmura were sentenced to 7 years 6 months and 3 years 6 months…

Former L.A. Council Member Jose Huizar Pleads Guilty in Corruption Case

Corruption, Prosecutions
Former Los Angeles City Councilmember Jose Huizar pleaded guilty Friday to charges of racketeering and tax evasion, admitting that he extorted at least $1.5 million in bribes from real estate developers. Under a plea agreement filed Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles, Huizar acknowledged that sweeping corruption allegations that he has denied for years were true. “Are you pleading guilty because you’re in fact guilty?” Judge John F. Walter asked Huizar in court Friday morning. “Yes, your honor,” Huizar responded. Huizar’s unexpected capitulation caps a brutal downfall for a man who was born into poverty on a Mexican ranch,…

Fraudsters Sentenced for £21m Loss in Cryptocurrency

Digital Currencies, Fraud, Prosecutions
Four offenders were sentenced today (13 January 2023) for fraudulently obtaining and laundering Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency worth tens of millions of pounds from an Australia-based cryptocurrency exchange. Stephen William Boys, 58, Kelly Caton, 44, Jordan Kane Robinson, 23, and James Austin-Beddoes, 27, were found guilty of fraud, converting and transferring criminal property at Preston Crown Court and then sentenced to a total of 15 years. All four were associates of James Parker, who masterminded the conspiracy from his home in Blackpool over a three-month period between October 2017 and January 2018. James Parker identified and then exploited a loophole…

FCA penalises Al Rayan Bank PLC for anti-money laundering failures 

Money Laundering, Prosecutions
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Al Rayan Bank PLC (Al Rayan) £4,023,600 for failing to put in place adequate anti-money laundering (AML) controls. Between 1 April 2015 and 30 November 2017, Al Rayan allowed money to pass through the bank and be used within the UK without carrying out appropriate checks. The firm failed to adequately check its customers’ Source of Wealth and Source of Funds when it was required to make sure the money was not connected to financial crime.  The failings were made worse by the lack of proper training provided to staff about how to handle…

St. Louis Man Sentenced to 19+ Years for Money Laundering

Money Laundering, Prosecutions
A St. Louis man was sentenced to 19 years and seven months in prison after admitting to his involvement in a methamphetamine operation in southern Illinois. Terrence Thompson, 35, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. According to court records, Thompson conspired with the co-defendants to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine in the Southern District of Illinois. Law enforcement conducted a search warrant on Thompson’s residence and recovered more than 10 kilograms of methamphetamine. Members of the conspiracy utilized various payment methods to deal the illegal narcotics, including CashApp, cashier’s checks, bank transfers and…

SEC Charges Danske Bank with Fraud for Misleading Investors about Its AML Compliance Failures in Estonia

Fraud, Money Laundering, Prosecutions, Regulatory Fines
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges against Danske Bank, a multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Denmark, for misleading investors about its anti-money laundering (AML) compliance program in its Estonian branch and failing to disclose the risks posed by the program’s significant deficiencies. Danske Bank agreed to pay $413 million to settle the SEC’s charges. According to the SEC’s complaint, when Danske Bank acquired its Estonian branch in 2007, it knew or should have known that a substantial portion of the branch’s customers were engaging in transactions that had a high risk of involving money laundering; that…

Santander Fined £108M for AML Failings

Money Laundering, Prosecutions, Regulatory Fines
BRITAIN’S Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) today announced it has fined Santander almost £108M for AML failures in its business banking division. The FCA ruled the UK division of the Spanish bank had failed to manage its anti-money laundering systems properly – affecting the way it dealt with 560,000 business customers. Between 2012 and 2017 the bank’s systems were not able to verify properly information provided by customers about their businesses. “Santander’s poor management of their anti-money laundering systems and their inadequate attempts to address the problems created a prolonged and severe risk of money laundering and financial crime,” said Mark…

Former director in the Office of the Director General of Audit Sentenced to 4 Years in Bribery Case

Bribery, Prosecutions
A Paramasivan, former director (AMF-II) in the Office of Director General of Audit, Central Expenditure, New Delhi has been sentenced to four years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 by the principal special judge for CBI Cases, Chennai (Tamil Nadu) in a bribery case. The Indian Audit and Accounts Service was sentenced along with Sivaram Thilagar, then Assistant Surgeon, Government Primary Health Centre,Kanchipuram (Tamil Nadu) in a bribery case. Sivaram has been sentenced to undergo three years rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs 5000 in a bribery case. The CBI had registered a case against the accused…

Federal Court Orders Man to Pay More than $2.8 Million in Restitution for Virtual Currency Fraud

Fraud, Prosecutions
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a consent order on November 29 for a permanent injunction, restitution, and equitable relief against Jeremy Spence of Bristol, Rhode Island. Spence, at times, conducted business as Coin Signals. The consent order resolves a CFTC action filed against Spence on January 26, 2021 alleging that he operated a virtual currency Ponzi scheme in which he fraudulently solicited individuals to invest in digital assets such as bitcoin and ether. [See CFTC Press Release No. 8356-21] The order requires Spence to pay…

Argentina Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner Sentenced to 6 Years in Prison for Corruption

Fraud, Prosecutions
A federal court in Argentina sentenced the current Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to six years in prison and a life ban from public office after finding her guilty of corruption. The court found her guilty of fraudulent administration during her time as president from 2007 to 2015 in awarding public works contracts to friend and businessman Lázaro Báez, who was also given a six-year sentence as part of the same case. Last year, Báez was sentenced to 12 years in a separate case for money laundering. The prosecutors said that they found irregularities in multiple public work tenders…

Son of Former Mozambique President Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison for Fraud

Fraud, Prosecutions
The son of Mozambique’s ex-president was sentenced Wednesday to 12 years in prison for embezzlement and money laundering. Judge Efigenio Baptista said Armando Ndambi Guebuza defrauded the government of more than $2.7 million, and is responsible for crimes of money laundering, embezzlement of State funds; use of false documents; four crimes of forgery of other writings; blackmail, influence peddling and association to commit crime. Guebuza, the oldest son of former Mozambique president Armando Guebuza, was sentenced along with 10 other defendants including the former head of security and intelligence Gregorio Leao. The corruption case came after three newly state-owned companies…

Biggest Bribery Fines of 2022

Bribery, Corruption, Prosecutions, Regulatory Fines
Key bribery fines & settlements in 2022 Glencore – $1bn settlementFirstEnergy – $180m settlementTenaris – $78m settlementStericycle – $84m settlementK.T. Corporation – $6.3m settlementKPMG – £3.4m fineBoulting Group – £500k fineTritec and Electron – £70k fine each Whilst companies face multi-million settlement penalties, the consequences for individuals can include jail time. Biggest bribery fines in 2022 in detail The SFO’s investigation revealed that Glencore paid over $28m (£22.2m) in bribes through its employees and agents in exchange for preferential access to oil, including larger cargoes, more valuable oil grades, and preferred delivery dates. The firm gave the go-ahead for these…

Cross-Border Cybercrime Raid Nabs Scam Call Centers Exposed By OCCRP

Fraud, Prosecutions
European authorities this month launched a coordinated action against hundreds of suspects accused of running a massive investment fraud network that was exposed by OCCRP in a 2020 investigation, Eurojust and Europol announced. Police and prosecutors from Albania, Bulgaria, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Latvia, North Macedonia, Spain, Sweden, and Ukraine worked together on an “unprecedented” cross-border investigation that culminated in the arrests of five suspects and confiscation of hundreds of thousands of euros’ worth of cash, as well as cryptocurrency wallets, properties, and bank accounts, according to Eurojust. The joint team, which Eurojust, the EU agency for judicial cooperation, coordinated and…

Danske Bank Estimates Money Laundering Fines at €2.08b

Money Laundering, Prosecutions, Regulatory Fines
Danske Bank predicts in its third-quarter report that the United States and Danish governments could fine the bank €2.08 billion for money laundering in Estonia. Danske Bank estimates in its third-quarter review that the solution agreed upon with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Danish National Special Crime Unit (NSK) is expected to cost €2.08 billion. The bank previously estimated the potential fine at €200 million. However, Danske Bank said that negotiations with the authorities are still ongoing and it remains uncertain whether a deal could be reached soon. The bank anticipates…

Former U.S. Congressman from California Arrested and Charged with Fraud

Fraud, Prosecutions
A former congressman from California was charged with multiple fraud schemes, the Justice Department announced Tuesday. Terrence John “TJ” Cox, 59, is charged with 15 counts of wire fraud, 11 counts of money laundering, one count of financial institution fraud and one count of campaign contribution fraud, according to the Justice Department.  He could face a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for wire fraud and money laundering if he is convicted. In addition, he could face a maximum of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine for wire fraud and five years and…

Former Detroit Cop Who Led Integrity Unit Pleads Guilty in Bribery Conspiracy

Bribery, Prosecutions
Former Detroit Police Lieutenant John F. Kennedy, who previously supervised the department’s integrity unit, pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiring with another officer to commit bribery, according to the United States Attorney’s Office. Kennedy, 57, of Rochester Hills, was accused of bribery as part of a broader federal investigation into public corruption involving Detroit city government officials and the towing industry. Initially charged with three counts bribery and one count of conspiracy, Kennedy and former Detroit Police Officer Daniel Vickers were accused of teaming up in May 2017 and began accepting cash, cars, car parts, car repairs and other valuables from…

Guatemala’s Former Economics Minister Pleads Guilty to Paying Bribes

Bribery, Prosecutions
A former high-ranking government official in Guatemala has pleaded guilty in Miami federal court to conspiring to commit money laundering while paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to Guatemalan politicians through the U.S. banking system. Acisclo Valladares Urruela, the former economics minister in Guatemala, admitted that he transferred $350,000 in bribery payments to the unidentified Guatemalan politicians through two companies with bank accounts in Miami, according to a factual statement filed with his plea agreement. Valladares also acknowledged that he received $140,000 for moving the dirty money into those accounts, the statement says. Valladares paid the illegal bribes…

Deutsche Bank Settles Money-Laundering Case for $7.1m

Money Laundering, Prosecutions
Deutsche Bank AG settled a probe by Frankfurt prosecutors looking into whether the bank violated money-laundering prevention rules for 7.01 million euros ($7.1 million). The bank agreed to pay the amount and accepted an administrative penalty notice, the lender said in a statement. Frankfurt prosecutors confirmed the end of the investigation, which found the bank failed to file 701 reports of suspicious activities. Deutsche Bank acted “thoughtlessly,” they said. The settlement comes less than three months after law enforcement officials raided Deutsche Bank’s headquarters in Frankfurt as part of the investigation. The bank had processed payments related to the extended…

U.K. Regulator FCA Fines Ghana International Bank $7.1M for Weak Anti-Money-Laundering Controls

Money Laundering, Prosecutions
The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said Thursday that it fined U.K.-based Ghana International Bank PLC about GBP5.8 million (US$7.1 million), for alleged failures in its anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing controls in relation to its correspondent-banking activities. By using correspondent-banking relationships, banks can gain access to financial services in various jurisdictions and provide cross-border payment services to customers. The regulator said that no money laundering was detected, but that between 2012 and 2016, the bank failed to perform required checks on its established relationships with overseas banks and assess those banks’ anti-money-laundering controls. As a result, the FCA said the risk…

Credit Suisse Prosecutor Finds $60 Million in Money Laundering

Money Laundering, Prosecutions
A prosecutor has identified more than $60 million that he believes was laundered through Credit Suisse Group AG, in the precursor to what would be just the second Swiss criminal indictment ever against a major local lender. Geneva’s top financial-crime prosecutor, Yves Bertossa, identified a series of 8 transactions the bank failed to prevent between 2008 and 2014 at a hearing last week, which he said constituted aggravated money laundering by the Swiss lender, according to people familiar with the investigation. Patrice Lescaudron, the fraudster at the heart of the case, faked signatures and contrived dummy portfolio statements to illegally…

Justice Department Secures Forfeiture of Property Purchased with $3.5 Million in Alleged Corruption Proceeds Linked to Ex-President of The Gambia

Corruption, DoJ, Prosecutions
The Department of Justice, pursuant to a court-ordered default judgment and final order of forfeiture entered on May 24, has secured the forfeiture of a Potomac, Maryland, property acquired with approximately $3.5 million in alleged corruption proceeds by the former President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia, through a trust set up by his wife, Zineb Jammeh. The judgment is the result of a civil forfeiture complaint filed by the United States in July 2020 seeking the forfeiture of the Maryland property. As alleged in the complaint, Yahya Jammeh corruptly obtained millions of dollars through the misappropriation of stolen public funds…

UK Middlemen Paid £9.7m in Bribes to Saudis for Contracts

Bribery, Prosecutions
Two men funnelled bribes totalling millions of pounds to a Saudi prince and other high-ranking officials to secure lucrative commercial contracts, the opening day of a trial has heard. The Serious Fraud Office alleges that a total of £9.7m was paid to Prince Miteb bin Abdullah and a group of senior Saudi officials to land the contracts for a British subsidiary of the European aerospace group Airbus. Mark Heywood QC, for the prosecution, said British middlemen for years had regularly paid bribes to “highly placed” Saudis through offshore companies and Swiss bank accounts in what amounted to “deep corruption”. Jeffrey…

U.S. Issues Charges in First Criminal Cryptocurrency Sanctions Case

Digital Currencies, Prosecutions, Sanctions
The Justice Department has launched its first criminal prosecution involving the alleged use of cryptocurrency to evade U.S. economic sanctions, a federal judge disclosed Friday. In an unusual nine-page opinion, U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui of Washington, D.C., explained why he approved a Justice Department criminal complaint against an American citizen accused of transmitting more than $10 million worth of bitcoin to a virtual currency exchange in one of a handful of countries comprehensively sanctioned by the U.S. government: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria or Russia. In the ruling, the judge called cryptocurrency’s reputation for providing anonymity to users…

SEC Charges Wells Fargo Advisors with Anti-Money Laundering Related Violations

Money Laundering, Prosecutions
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against Wells Fargo Advisors for failing to file at least 34 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) in a timely manner between April 2017 and October 2021. Wells Fargo Advisors, the St. Louis-based broker-dealer, has agreed to pay $7 million to settle the charges. According to the SEC’s order, due to Wells Fargo Advisors’ deficient implementation and failure to test a new version of its internal anti-money laundering (AML) transaction monitoring and alert system adopted in January 2019, the system failed to reconcile the different country codes used to monitor foreign wire transfers. As…

How Procurement at Coca-Cola Enterprises Unearthed a £1.5m Bribery Scam

Bribery, Corruption, Prosecutions
An investigation initiated by the procurement team at Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd (CCE) led to the discovery of a nine-year contracts-for-bribes scam. Noel Corry – who was on £62,500 in his role as electrical and automation manager at CCE – took bribes of £1.5m in exchange for confidential information to help favoured bidders win contracts, Southwark Crown Court was told. Corry has pleaded guilty to five counts of corruption and was due to be sentenced yesterday (13 April). He ensured large volumes of work at CCE went to Boulting Group Limited (now known as WABGS), Tritec Systems Limited, and Electron Systems…

Trio Jailed for Trying to Launder Crime Gang Cash

Money Laundering, Prosecutions
THREE people who came to Jersey to try to launder thousands of pounds of criminal cash have been jailed for a combined total of ten years. The Royal Court heard yesterday that Muhiddin Umurzokov (50), Anvarjon Eshonkulov (49) and Batsukh Bataa (52) came to the Island in October in an attempt to spend or exchange money that they knew had come from crime. They admitted 22 separate charges of laundering or attempting to launder money. Umurzokov was jailed for four years and Eshonkulov and Bataa were jailed for three years each. They changed some of the money into US dollars…

London Lawyer Denies Charges of Tipping Off Client of Money Laundering Probe

Money Laundering, Prosecutions, Tipping Off
A City of London solicitor, accused of forging a legal letter and tipping off a client about a money laundering investigation, is set to stand on trial after denying both counts. William Osmond, founder of City of London law firm Osmond Solicitors, entered not guilty pleas on one count of forgery and one count of disclosing an investigation into possible breaches of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The London lawyer is now set to face trial in March 2023 after being accused of informing his client of the Serious Fraud Office’s (SFO’s) plans for a money laundering probe The…

Ex-Goldman Banker Convicted of Bribery, Money Laundering Conspiracy Charges in 1MDB Case

Bribery, Corruption, Prosecutions
NEW YORK, April 8(Reuters) – Former Goldman Sachs (GS.N) banker Roger Ng was convicted by a U.S. jury on Friday of corruption charges related to his role in helping loot hundreds of millions of dollars from Malaysia’s 1MDB development fund. The charges stemmed from one of the biggest financial scandals in history. Prosecutors charged Ng, Goldman’s former top investment banker for Malaysia, for conspiring to violate an anti-corruption law and launder money. They said he helped his former boss Tim Leissner embezzle money from the fund, launder the proceeds and bribe officials to win business for Goldman. Ng, 49, had…

U.S. Citizen Who Conspired in Evading Sanctions Sentenced to Over Five Years and Fined $100,000

Prosecutions, Sanctions
A U.S. citizen who conspired to provide services to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea), including technical advice on using cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to evade sanctions, was sentenced to 63 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). According to court documents, Virgil Griffith, 39, began formulating plans as early as 2018 to provide services to individuals in the DPRK by developing and funding cryptocurrency infrastructure there, including to mine cryptocurrency. Griffith knew that the DPRK could use these services to evade and avoid U.S. sanctions,…

Brazil Charges President with Illicit Enrichment Ahead of Elections

Prosecutions, Sanctions
Prosecutors charged Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro with illicit enrichment, in a case related to his former maid in Rio de Janeiro who allegedly received a salary as a government employee while he served as a lawmaker in Brasilia. At the same time, the Brazilian Superior Court ordered a former prosecutor to pay the equivalent of some US$15,000 to Bolsonaro’s political rival, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, for alleged “moral damages” he caused when he portrayed during a press conference Lula as the leader of a criminal network. The moves come at a sensitive time when Lula is expected…

Swiss Banker Who Paid for Strip Clubs on Expenses Sentenced to Almost Four Years for Fraud

Fraud, Prosecutions
Former banker of the year in Switzerland, Pierin Vincenz, will spend almost four years in jail, after he was sentenced at the culmination of a high-profile case in the country. The ex chief executive of Raiffeisen bank’s trial was moved to concert hall because the public interest was so high, as the court heard how he made millions through shady deals, according to prosecutors. According to the Times, Vincenz, 65, said his £163,460 bill for strip club visits was business-related, and a tinder app date was a job interview. Judge Sebastian Aeppli said his expenses claimed “clearly went too far”…

Honduras to Extradite ex-President Suspected of Drug Trafficking to U.S.

Drug Trafficking, Prosecutions
About a month after his arrest, the Honduras Supreme Court ratified the extradition of former President Juan Orlando Hernández Alvarado to the United States where he could face a life sentence if convicted on drug trafficking and firearms charges. Fifteen associate justices of Honduras top court rejected on Monday a final appeal filed by Hernández’s legal team, and determined that he must be extradited. The court declared the appeal inadmissible. According to U.S. authorities, Hernández oversaw a violent drug trafficking network that functioned out of Central American countries, especially Honduras. His network is believed to have transported more than 500,000…

Financial Crimes See Former Nicaragua Presidential Candidate Held for Eight Years

Money Laundering, Prosecutions
A former presidential candidate, Chamorro was found guilty of activities related to money laundering and misuse of funds, in a trial that opposition of the Nicaraguan government say was politically motivated. Chamorro may have to see out her sentence in house arrest, or in jail, depending on a forthcoming decision coming from the Nicaraguan judiciary. The children of ex-president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, Cristiana and her brother were found guilty of their financial crimes earlier this month. Their father was victorious against the central American nation’s current premier, Danial Ortega, in elections in 1990 – an event which brought Ortega’s…

Jordanian Businessman, the King’s Uncle, Sentenced for Corruption

Corruption, Prosecutions
A Jordanian businessman related to the royal family was sentenced on Wednesday to 18 years of hard labor and fined 191 million Jordanian dinars (US$269 million) for corruption and abuse of office, the country’s Integrity and Anti-Corruption Commission said in a statement. The charges against Walid Al-Kurdi, married to Jordan’s King Abdullah II’s aunt Princess Basma Bint Talal, relate to his work as head of the state-owned mining company Jordan Phosphate Mines (JPMC). As its former CEO and chairman for six years, Al-Kurdi abused his position and engaged in corruption in relation to six investment contracts in the Shidiya mine…

Swedbank ex Chief Charged Over Money Laundering Scandal

Fraud, Money Laundering, Prosecutions
The former chief executive of Swedbank has been charged with fraud, market manipulation and the unauthorised disclosure of inside information, after an investigation into a large-scale money laundering scandal in the Baltics. Birgitte Bonnesen, who was sacked as chief executive two years ago when the scandal came to light, “repeatedly spread misleading information” that the bank did not have any issues with its anti-money laundering (AML) processes in Estonia, according to Sweden’s Economic Crime Authority. Thomas Langrot, the chief prosecutor and head of the investigation, said Bonnesen either intentionally or through gross negligence disseminated misleading information about the state of…

U.K. Hands Down Largest Sentences for Money Laundering

Money Laundering, Prosecutions
A U.K. court sent two men behind bars for a total of 33 years for laundering the equivalent of nearly US$95 million and fraudulently claimed $13.44 million in COVID-19 Bounce Back Loans for their fake companies, the National Crime Agency reported. Artem Terzyan, 38, from Russia was sentenced to 17 and Deivis Grochiatskij, 44, from Lithuania to 16 years in prison after a seven-weeks-long trial in September. Their sentences are believed to be one of the largest ever handed down in the U.K. for money laundering, the NCA said. The investigation started in October 2017 when the police noticed another…