Reported by Miles Johnson, Stephen Morris and Lucy Fisher Iran used two of the UK’s biggest banks to covertly move money around the world as part of a vast sanctions-evasion scheme backed by Tehran’s intelligence services. Lloyds and Santander UK provided accounts to British front companies secretly owned by a sanctioned Iranian petrochemicals company based near Buckingham […]
Reported by Gabrielle Saulsbery Blue Ridge Bank has found itself in regulatory crosshairs again, leading to a consent order with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued January 24. Blue Ridge’s primary federal regulator deemed the bank in “troubled condition” after the fintech-focused bank’s alleged continuous failure to establish and maintain a strong and […]
Reported by Drew Harwell In October 2021, former president Donald Trump announced that his media company, the owner of the platform Truth Social, had sealed an incredible deal: a merger with a “special purpose acquisition company” that would deliver to his firm $300 million toward his promise of giving “a voice to all.” By then, […]
Reported by Perkin Amalaraj and Reuters A Briton charged with defrauding Danish tax authorities of more than 320 million Danish crowns (£36.6 million) in a sham trading scheme to make double tax reclaims has been sentenced to six years in prison. Danish prosecutors in 2021 brought preliminary criminal charges against Guenther Klar, 54, along with […]
Reported by MASSIMO INTROVIGNE More of the same. In March 2023, “Bitter Winter” published the only detailed English-language account of the “Operation Belt and Road,” a large-scale investigation of the Italian Tax Police that uncovered how mainline Chinese banks cooperated with the Italian Mafia, Colombia’s drug cartels, and Russian oligarchs close to Putin to launder at least […]
Reported by LAURENCE DARMIENTO City National Bank was fined $65 million on Wednesday by federal regulators for failing to maintain proper risk management and internal controls, including those related to money laundering. Long known as L.A.’s “bank to the stars” for its close ties to the entertainment industry, the bank entered into a civil consent […]
Reported by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York Defendant Facilitated More Than $1 Billion in High-Risk Transactions Without Required Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Program Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Gyanendra Asre pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an anti-money laundering program in violation of the Bank Secrecy Act, […]
Reported by Jesse Hamilton HyperVerse was a nearly $2 billion fraudulent crypto investment scheme with a fake CEO at its helm, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a grand jury allege in a lawsuit and criminal indictments against two of its leaders. The online investment business, which variously carried brands including HyperFund, HyperCapital and HyperTech, is said […]
Reported by Vincent Noce Amr al-Madani, the head of the Al-Ula project in Saudi Arabia, was arrested over corruption allegations on 28 January. The chief executive of the huge development project in the country’s northwestern province is accused of “abuse of authority and money laundering“, a source from the Saudi anti-corruption agency (Nazaha) told local […]
Reported by HELEN SANTORO As of January 1, small businesses must report who owns and controls the company to financial regulators or face stiff penalties. The disclosure is required under a new anti–money laundering law designed to curb tax fraud and terrorism financing. But while mom-and-pop cafe and hardware store owners are now busy filling […]
Financial Crime News Briefs 