Reported by JOHN BASQUILL

US authorities have vowed to crack down on money laundering through offshore banks, after issuing a US$15mn fine to a Puerto Rican lender accused of facilitating payments linked to bribery, drugs and crypto scams. 

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) says Bancrédito, a San Juan-based bank that is now in liquidation, wilfully violated anti-money laundering and transaction reporting requirements between 2015 and 2022. 

Before its liquidation, Bancrédito provided services including checking accounts, correspondent banking and trade finance, FinCEN says.  

The authority says the bank allowed AllBank Corporation, a Panama-based lender shut down in 2019, to move more than US$100mn through a correspondent bank account held with Bancrédito. 

Those transactions included wire transfers by a Venezuelan national convicted of bribing government officials in Argentina, payments on behalf of an individual who had a yacht and aircraft seized by the Drug Enforcement Agency, and several payments from a company connected to the OneCoin cryptocurrency scam.

US authorities have vowed to crack down on money laundering through offshore banks, after issuing a US$15mn fine to a Puerto Rican lender accused of facilitating payments linked to bribery, drugs and crypto scams. 

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) says Bancrédito, a San Juan-based bank that is now in liquidation, wilfully violated anti-money laundering and transaction reporting requirements between 2015 and 2022. 

Before its liquidation, Bancrédito provided services including checking accounts, correspondent banking and trade finance, FinCEN says.  

The authority says the bank allowed AllBank Corporation, a Panama-based lender shut down in 2019, to move more than US$100mn through a correspondent bank account held with Bancrédito. 

Those transactions included wire transfers by a Venezuelan national convicted of bribing government officials in Argentina, payments on behalf of an individual who had a yacht and aircraft seized by the Drug Enforcement Agency, and several payments from a company connected to the OneCoin cryptocurrency scam. 

“Bancrédito processed millions of dollars in suspicious transactions through the United States on behalf of high-risk customers, providing correspondent accounts to foreign financial institutions without the required due diligence and reporting required by the [Bank Secrecy Act],” says FinCEN director Andrea Gacki. 

Prior to its liquidation, the lender was one of Puerto Rico’s oldest and largest international banking entities (IBEs).  

Under US law, IBEs were not required to implement an anti-money laundering programme until March 2021, though were required to report suspicious activity under the Bank Secrecy Act.  

The fine is the first enforcement action taken against a Puerto Rican IBE.

Read full report: https://www.gtreview.com/news/americas/us-threatens-anti-money-laundering-crackdown-on-offshore-lenders/