Fourth Post in an Extended Series on Legislative Changes to BSA/AML Regulatory Regime -
As we have blogged, the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (“AMLA”), contains major changes to the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”), coupled...more
On Monday, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding customer due diligence (CDD) requirements for covered financial institutions. The FAQs supplement FinCEN’s...more
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) just issued another Advisory pertaining to two consumer fraud schemes exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. ...more
On May 18, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued an Advisory “to alert financial institutions to rising medical scams related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This [A]dvisory contains red flags, descriptions of...more
On May 4, the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) issued a paper entitled “Covid-19-Related Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing – Risk and Policy Responses (“Paper”). ...more
5/11/2020
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
BSA/AML ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corruption ,
FATF ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Fraud ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Transactions ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)
Some Commentary on the Unfortunate Relationship Between Crisis and Fraud -
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) released an update (“Update”) on its March 16, 2020 COVID-19 Notice, on which we previously...more
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) just issued a release, entitled “The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) Encourages Financial Institutions to Communicate Concerns Related to the Coronavirus...more
3/17/2020
/ China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Insider Trading ,
Money Laundering ,
Public Health ,
Scams
In its 2020 National Strategy for Combating Terrorist and Other Illicit Financing (“2020 Strategy”), the U.S. Department of Treasury (“Treasury”) has laid out its AML and money laundering enforcement priorities. Last week, we...more
3/5/2020
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Broker-Dealer ,
BSA/AML ,
Currency Transaction Reports (CTR) ,
FATF ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Foreign Investment ,
Geographic Targeting Order ,
Innovative Technology ,
Legal Representatives ,
Money Laundering ,
Natural Person Requirement ,
Real Estate Investments ,
Real Estate Market ,
Real Estate Transactions ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Service Professionals ,
Title Insurance ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Virtual Currency
First in a Two-Post Series -
The U.S. Department of Treasury (“Treasury”) has issued its 2020 National Strategy for Combating Terrorist and Other Illicit Financing (“2020 Strategy”)....more
2/28/2020
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Beneficial Owner ,
Broker-Dealer ,
BSA/AML ,
Casinos ,
Corruption ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Digital Assets ,
FATF ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Foreign Correspondent Banking ,
Money Laundering ,
Money Services Business ,
Proposed Rules ,
Real Estate Transactions ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Securities Transactions ,
Strategic Enforcement Plan ,
Terrorism Funding ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations ,
Transparency ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Vulnerable Victims ,
White Collar Crimes
As we blogged yesterday, the issue of the beneficial ownership of entities and the potentially pernicious role of shell companies in perpetuating money laundering is the primary anti-money laundering (“AML”) concern across...more
11/5/2019
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Beneficial Owner ,
Best Practices ,
BSA/AML ,
FATF ,
Financial Institutions ,
Money Laundering ,
New Guidance ,
Risk Assessment ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations ,
Transparency
Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski announced the restructuring of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Securities and Financial Fraud Unit within the Fraud section of the Criminal Division. The unit will now be known...more
10/10/2019
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Commodities ,
Consumer Fraud ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Financial Fraud ,
Financial Institutions ,
Government Investigations ,
Investment Fraud ,
Policy Statement ,
Securities Fraud ,
White Collar Crimes
On September 25, 2019, the Southern District of New York dismissed a complaint brought by victims of rocket attacks in Israel perpetrated in 2006 by Hizbollah, operating in Lebanon. Kaplan v. Lebanese Canadian Bank, SAL, Civ....more
10/7/2019
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Antiterrorism Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Due Diligence ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Hizballah ,
Israel ,
Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) ,
Money Laundering ,
Terrorism Funding ,
Terrorist Acts ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations
Earlier this week, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed, in an unpublished opinion, that Coinbase Inc., an online platform used for buying, selling, transferring, and storing digital currency, could not compel arbitration on a...more
4/26/2018
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
BSA/AML ,
Coinbase ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Money Laundering ,
Money Services Business ,
Virtual Currency
Alleged Illicit Activity Included Transactions Promoting North Korea’s Missile Program and an Institutional Commitment to Laundering Money -
On February 13, 2018, FinCEN announced that it had proposed a special measure...more
FinCEN recently announced the launching of the “FinCEN Exchange” to enhance information sharing with financial institutions. We previously have blogged about the potential benefits of a public-private partnership between law...more
“Sometimes, the third time really is the charm” wrote the District Court for the District of Columbia on April 14, 2017. In its opinion, the court upheld FinCEN’s imposition of the Patriot Act’s fifth special measure against...more
In part two of our review of the 2016 developments in Anti-Money Laundering (AML), the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), the criminal money laundering statutes, forfeiture, and related issues, we discuss four additional key...more
2/7/2017
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Bitcoin ,
BSA/AML ,
Civil Forfeiture ,
Currency Transaction Reports (CTR) ,
Digital Currency ,
Financial Institutions ,
Forfeiture ,
Money Laundering ,
Virtual Currency
On August 30, 2016, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and four U.S. federal banking regulators sought to correct a problem—at least in part one of their own creation—by issuing a “Joint Fact Sheet on Foreign Correspondent...more
2/7/2017
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
BSA/AML ,
Due Diligence ,
Financial Institutions ,
Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI) ,
IMF ,
Money Laundering ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Risk Management
The federal courts continued in 2016 to produce a stream of cases pertaining to money laundering. We focus on three below because they involve analysis of basic issues that frequently arise in money laundering litigation....more
2/7/2017
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
BSA/AML ,
Civil Forfeiture ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Currency Transaction Reports (CTR) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Energy Sector ,
Financial Institutions ,
Fraud ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
Iran ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Money Laundering ,
Private Equity ,
Summary Judgment ,
Taylor v US ,
Wire Fraud
The field of forfeiture saw significant action in 2016. The IRS offered to return forfeited funds used in structuring, but Congress still may clip its ability to forfeit such funds. Meanwhile, DOJ renewed a controversial...more
2/7/2017
/ Asset Seizure ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Currency Transaction Reports (CTR) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Forfeiture ,
IRS ,
Luis v United States ,
Money Laundering ,
SCOTUS ,
Sixth Amendment
2016 was a busy year for developments in Anti-Money Laundering (AML), the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), the criminal money laundering statutes, forfeiture, and related issues. In part one of our year-in-review, we discuss six key...more
2/3/2017
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
BSA/AML ,
Casinos ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
FATF ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Fines ,
Gambling ,
Gaming ,
Geographic Targeting Order ,
Money Laundering ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
NYDFS ,
Offshore Funds ,
Panama Papers ,
Popular ,
Real Estate Market ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
Tax Evasion