Reported by Sharyn Alfonsi After Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. and its allies responded with sanctions targeting companies, oligarchs and officials with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Headlines trumpeted the trophies of Russian oligarchs seized throughout Europe – yachts in Italy, villas in the south of France and priceless art in […]
Reported by HENRY POPE Al Rayan Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank(GTBank) were fined four million pounds (US$4.9 million) and 7.6 million pounds ($9.3 million), respectively, for failing to vet their customers’ transactions for signs of money laundering activity and for failing to train their staff on how to properly conduct enhanced customer due diligence (EDD) […]
Reported by: GRAHAM KATES Two Trump Organization companies were ordered to pay a $1.6 million fine at sentencing Friday, after a jury last month unanimously found them guilty of 17 counts related to tax fraud. The fine imposed by Judge Juan Merchan was the maximum penalty allowed in the case — double the amount of the […]
Reported by: Mat Di Salvo Funds are flowing out of crypto lender Nexo following news that prosecutors in Bulgaria are investigating the company for fraud, according to blockchain analytics firms. Nexo is a British digital asset platform that loans out client funds and uses the proceeds to pay interest. (Disclosure: Nexo is one of Decrypt’s 22 investors.) […]
Reported by: Mengqi Sun The Treasury Department’s anti-money-laundering whistleblower program, which was established in 2021 but has been viewed as lacking teeth, got a shakeup in the recent omnibus spending bill that lawyers predict will result in more whistleblower cases. The legislation, which President Biden signed into law in late December, contains major changes to the Treasury […]
Reported by: FINRA FINRA published today its 2023 Report on FINRA’s Examination and Risk Monitoring Program to provide member firms with key insights and observations to use in strengthening their compliance programs. New Topics Covered in the Report: Additionally, the report introduces a newFinancial Crimes section, consisting of three topics — Cybersecurity and Technological Governance; […]
Reported by: Michael DeSantis Lawrence Isen, 69, of San Diego, California, conspired with a boiler room operation based in Melville to cost elderly investors millions of dollars, the DOJ said. From 2014 to 2016, Isen, Chartier and others working with the Melville boiler room artificially inflated the price and trading volume of stock in struggling […]
Reported by: Jonathan Guthrie Nations challenged by the so-called “tyranny of the dollar” are quietly buying gold to replace foreign currency in reserves or for other purposes. Russia springs to mind: most of its government institutions, banks and bigwigs are covered by sanctions. China is also subject to a growing raft of trade curbs amid […]
Reported by: Daniel Flatley Brian Nelson, the Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, will go to Seattle, San Francisco and San Diego this month to warn banks against overcompliance such as cutting people off from services over fears of running afoul of sanctions. His push highlights a challenge the US faces with sanctions: Successive administrations have […]
Reported by: Douglas MacMillan and Tory Newmyer Federal prosecutors are examining American hedge funds’ dealings with cryptocurrency exchange Binance as part of a long-running investigation into potential violations of money-laundering rules at one of the world’s leading crypto companies. In subpoenas sent in recent months, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Western District of Washington […]
Financial Crime News Briefs 