On August 27, 2024, the New York State Department of Financial Services (“NYDFS”) announced a consent order involving a $35 million settlement with Nordea Bank Abp (“Nordea”) for alleged significant failures related to...more
9/5/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Banks ,
BSA/AML ,
Consent Order ,
Due Diligence ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Money Laundering ,
NYDFS ,
Panama Papers
On June 20, 2024, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued a supplemental advisory to alert U.S. financial institutions about emerging trends in the illicit fentanyl supply chain. The supplemental advisory...more
7/3/2024
/ Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Illegal Drugs ,
Money Laundering ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Significant Transnational Criminal Organization ,
Supply Chain
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
It is challenging for law enforcement to track down and trace illicit activities conducted through digital currencies. The process can be very time- and resource-intensive. Further, securing charges and arrests, and...more
3/19/2024
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Daubert Standards ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Electronic Communications ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Evidence ,
Expert Testimony ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Government Investigations ,
Guilty Pleas ,
Money Laundering ,
Popular ,
Virtual Currency
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) recently released a Financial Trend Analysis (“FTA”) focusing on identity-related suspicious activity. The FTA was issued pursuant to section 6206 of the Anti-Money...more
Summary -
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has created the International Corporate Anti-Bribery initiative (ICAB), which aims to strengthen the United States’ global efforts in combating corruption through enhanced...more
12/6/2023
/ Anti-Bribery ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bribery ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy (CEP) ,
Financial Crimes ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Fraud ,
Money Laundering ,
White Collar Crimes
On October 23, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (“NPRM”) entitled Proposal of Special Measure Regarding Convertible Virtual Currency Mixing, as a Class of...more
11/1/2023
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Convertible Virtual Currencies (CVCs) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
NPRM ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Virtual Currency
Summary -
Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco unveiled Wednesday, Oct. 4, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) new safe harbor policy for voluntary self-disclosures (VSD) arising from mergers and acquisitions (Safe Harbor...more
Complex Civil and Criminal Cases Converge -
On August 17, 2023, Judge Robert Pitman of the federal district court for the Western District of Texas issued an Order granting summary judgment for the U.S. Treasury Department...more
8/30/2023
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Fifth Amendment ,
FinCEN ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
Money Laundering ,
Money Transmitter ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Russia ,
SDN List ,
Takings Clause ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Virtual Currency
On April 19, 2023, the United States Supreme Court issued a highly-anticipated decision in the case of Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S., aka Halkbank v. United States. The court ruled that Turkish state-owned Halkbank remained...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced on March 15, 2023 that in a coordinated effort between U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations, Europol, and German police, the darknet cryptocurrency mixing service ChipMixer...more
On January 4, 2023, the New York State Department of Financial Services (“NYDFS”) issued a consent order against Coinbase, Inc. (“Coinbase” or the “Company”), the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency trading exchange, for...more
First Post in a Two-Post Series on the CTA Implementing Regulations -
On September 30, 2022, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued its final rule, Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting...more
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a joint alert on June 28, 2022, warning of evasion attempts by individuals or entities to...more
Case Highlights the Role of Correspondent Bank Accounts and Circumvention of AML Programs -
Court Order Describes Seizure as a “Reckoning” for Atrocities in the Ukraine...more
On January 13, 2022, Himamauli “Him” Das, the Acting Director of FinCEN, virtually addressed the Financial Crimes Enforcement Conference hosted by the American Bankers Association and the American Bar Association. In his...more
The Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a recent 27-page decision, held that Halkbank, the state-owned Turkish lender, cannot claim sovereign immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (“FSIA”) in a money...more
On October 15, 2021, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued a financial trend analysis on ransomware relating to Suspicious Activity Reports (“SARs”) filed in the first half of this year (“Analysis”). ...more
Government Alleges Systemic and Deliberate AML Failures -
Filings Describe Tools for CVC Exchanges to Use for Customer Due Diligence and Transaction Monitoring -
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) and...more
Seventh Post in an Extended Series on Legislative Changes to BSA/AML Regulatory Regime -
On April 5, 2021, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (“ANPRM”) to...more
On February 25, 2021, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (“FFIEC”) released updates to the Bank Secretary Act/Anti-Money Laundering (“BSA/AML”) Examination Manual (the “Manual”), which provides guidance to...more
Court Rejects Halkbank’s Claim That the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act Shields the Bank From Prosecution -
A motion to dismiss an indictment accusing Turkey’s majority state-owned Halkbank of money laundering, bank...more
10/20/2020
/ Commercial Activity Exception ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Financial Institutions ,
Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 (FSIA) ,
Indictments ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Legislative History ,
Money Laundering ,
Personal Jurisdiction ,
Sovereign Immunity ,
State-Owned Enterprises ,
U.S. Treasury