On August 29, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Center (“FinCEN”) published Anti-Money Laundering Regulations for Residential Real Estate Transfers (“Final Rule”) regarding residential real estate. The Federal Register...more
9/11/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Beneficial Owner ,
BSA/AML ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Real Estate Transactions ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Assessment ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
This episode features a discussion with Nick St. John, Director of Federal Compliance at America’s Credit Unions. We discuss the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) issued by FinCEN and federal banking regulators regarding...more
On August 1, 2024, the Department of Justice launched its Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program (the “Pilot Program”). Under this 3-year initiative managed by DOJ’s Criminal Division, a whistleblower may be eligible...more
8/12/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Money Laundering ,
Pilot Programs ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent overturning of the Chevron Deference Doctrine calls into question several Chevron-based federal court rulings allowing the Small Business Administration (SBA) to exclude many categories of...more
8/8/2024
/ Borrowers ,
CARES Act ,
Chevron Deference ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Loans ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Regulatory Authority ,
SBA ,
SBA Lending Programs ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Interpretation
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) has published a two-page reference guide (“Guide”) comparing the requirements for reporting beneficial ownership information (“BOI”) to FinCEN under the Corporate...more
8/5/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Beneficial Owner ,
BSA/AML ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
As we previously blogged, a Florida law (Fla. Stat. § 655.0323, entitled “Unsafe and unsound practices”) which became effective July 1, 2024 prohibits federal and state depository institutions conducting business in the state...more
7/30/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Banks ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Florida ,
Money Laundering ,
Preemption ,
Religious Beliefs ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
FinCEN’s recent preliminary rulemaking aims to enhance and modernize regulations with requirements and priorities that affect a broad range of “financial institutions” across industries—but lacks concrete guidance on...more
7/26/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Chevron Deference ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Risk Assessment ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations
Yesterday we were very pleased to welcome guest blogger, Don Fort, who is the Director of Investigations at Kostelanetz LLP, and the past Chief of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation (CI) Division....more
On July 3, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) as part of a broader initiative to “strengthen, modernize, and improve” financial institutions’ anti-money...more
7/16/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Banks ,
Broker-Dealer ,
BSA/AML ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
NPRM ,
Popular ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Assessment ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations
On July 1, 2024, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Corner Post, Inc. v Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in which the Court determined when a Section 702 claim under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA)...more
7/5/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Corner Post Inc v Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ,
Debit Cards ,
Federal Reserve ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Interchange Fees ,
Regulation II ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Statute of Limitations
After several years of monitoring and reporting on artificial intelligence (AI) in financial services, the U.S. Department of Treasury (Treasury) has embarked on initial rulemaking efforts and issued a request for information...more
6/27/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
BSA/AML ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Machine Learning ,
Non-Discrimination Rules ,
Request For Information ,
Risk Management ,
U.S. Treasury ,
UDAAP
The U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) has released a Request for Information on the Uses, Opportunities, and Risks of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) in the Financial Services Sector (“RFI”). Written comments are...more
6/17/2024
/ Algorithms ,
AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Data Privacy ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Gramm-Leach-Blilely Act ,
Investor Protection ,
Machine Learning ,
Money Laundering ,
Request For Information ,
Risk Management ,
U.S. Treasury
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) has issued its Year in Review for FY 2023 (“YIR”). It consists of five pages of infographics. According to FinCEN’s press release...more
6/11/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Currency Transaction Reports (CTR) ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Information Sharing ,
Money Laundering ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
Strategy Touts Regulations on Beneficial Ownership, Real Estate and Investment Advisers, but Bemoans Lack of Supervisory Resources for Non-Bank Financial Institutions...more
5/21/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Investment Adviser ,
Non-Bank Lenders ,
Proposed Rules ,
Risk Assessment ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations ,
U.S. Treasury
On April 20, 2024, the Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities (“DoBS”) issued a policy statement (“Policy Statement”) to “clarify” that the Department’s interpretation of the term “money” in the Pennsylvania Money...more
5/14/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Bitcoin ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Money Services Business ,
Money Transmitter ,
Policy Statement ,
Virtual Currency
I am very pleased to co-chair again the Practicing Law Institute’s 2024 Anti-Money Laundering Conference on May 23, 2024, starting at 9 a.m. in New York City (the event also will be virtual). I am also really fortunate to be...more
5/9/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Blockchain ,
BSA/AML ,
Cryptoassets ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Gaming ,
Money Laundering ,
Risk Management
On May 3, 2024, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Federal Reserve”), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) jointly released the...more
5/8/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Banks ,
BSA/AML ,
Due Diligence ,
FDIC ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
OCC ,
Risk Assessment ,
Risk Management ,
Third-Party ,
Third-Party Risk
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) recently issued a Financial Trend Analysis (“Analysis”) focusing on patterns and trends identified in Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) data linked to Elder Financial Exploitation...more
5/2/2024
/ Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Elder Abuse ,
Exploitation ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
New Guidance ,
Popular ,
Scams ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
On April 18, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued a draft version of Form 1099-DA, a proposed information reporting form regarding certain digital asset sales and exchanges that “digital asset brokers” will need to...more
4/24/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Wallets ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Know Your Customers ,
Reporting Requirements
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) has issued a Notice on the Use of Counterfeit U.S. Passport Cards to Perpetrate Identity Theft and Fraud Schemes at Financial Institutions (“Notice”), asking financial...more
4/18/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Counterfeiting ,
Currency Transaction Reports (CTR) ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Fraud ,
Identity Theft ,
Money Laundering ,
Passports ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
Today we are very pleased to welcome guest blogger Lili Infante, who is the CEO of CAT Labs – a tech company building digital asset recovery and quantum-resistant cryptography tools to fight crypto crime. Lili previously...more
3/29/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Dark Web ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
U.S. Treasury
In this episode, we are joined by Special Agent Jonathan Schnatz, Senior Analyst with IRS Criminal Investigation. Special Agent Schnatz will discuss his work with an international law enforcement and tax compliance group, and...more
3/5/2024
/ Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Liability ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Income Taxes ,
IRS ,
Tax Evasion ,
Tax Fraud ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax Planning ,
Tax Returns ,
White Collar Crimes
On March 1, Judge Liles C. Burke of the Northern District of Alabama issued a Memorandum Opinion (“Opinion”) and Final Judgment, finding that the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”) is unconstitutional....more
3/4/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Beneficial Owner ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Popular ,
Proposed Regulation
On February 16, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Center (“FinCEN”) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) regarding residential real estate. The final version of the NPRM published in the Federal Register is 47...more
2/23/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Beneficial Owner ,
Broker-Dealer ,
BSA/AML ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
NPRM ,
Real Estate Investments ,
Real Estate Transactions ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has been very active in the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) / Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”) space, as reflected by a recent series of individual prosecutions and corporate non-prosecution agreements...more
2/1/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Banks ,
BSA/AML ,
Casinos ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Due Diligence ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Guilty Pleas ,
Money Laundering ,
Non-Prosecution Agreements ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)