Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering (BSA/AML) and sanctions matters continue to be a core focus of regulators, law enforcement agencies, policymakers and Congress, and the story of the Obama and Trump Administrations on...more
7/29/2019
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
BSA/AML ,
Cuba ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
Drug Trafficking ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FinCEN ,
Human Trafficking ,
Iran ,
Magnitsky Act ,
Nicaragua ,
North Korea ,
Russia ,
Sudan ,
Trump Administration ,
Venezuela ,
Virtual Currency
On March 27, 2019, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced a settlement agreement with US-based Stanley Black & Decker, Inc., (Stanley Black & Decker) and its foreign subsidiary, Jiangsu Guoqiang Tools Co., Ltd....more
4/2/2019
/ Black & Decker ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Exports ,
Foreign Subsidiaries ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Settlement ,
Subsidiaries
The myriad—and conflicting—state, federal and international laws governing the burgeoning marijuana industry have created a complicated legal landscape for financial institutions. In the United States, most states have...more
2/8/2019
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Canada ,
Cannabidiol (CBD) oil ,
Cole Memorandum ,
Controlled Substances Act ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Farm Bill ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Hemp ,
Marijuana ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Risk Management ,
State and Local Government ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
On November 28, the Treasury Department sanctioned two Iran-based individuals for exchanging bitcoin into Iranian rials on behalf of malicious cyber actors involved in the SamSam ransomware scheme. Notably, this action marks...more
12/3/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Iran ,
New Guidance ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Ransomware ,
SDN List ,
U.S. Treasury
On October 12, 2018 in remarks made at the NYU School of Law Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement’s Conference on Achieving Effective Compliance, Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice...more
Many financial institutions will confront a new compliance challenge on May 25, 2018, the effective date of the European Union’s revamped data privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). In short, GDPR data...more
Last week the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued much-anticipated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that provide additional guidance to financial institutions relating to the implementation of the new...more
Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) recently announced the creation of the FinCEN Exchange, a new voluntary platform to facilitate information sharing between the government and industry on topics...more
On July 10, 2017, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit became the first circuit court to apply the six-year statute of limitations from the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2016 (HEAR Act). In Cassirer v....more
The US government's settlement with Hobby Lobby on July 5, 2017 is part of its broader effort to combat trafficking in looted antiquities from the war-torn Middle East and to reduce market demand for such objects by punishing...more
On June 5, 2017, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in Honeycutt v. United States (No. 16-142), holding that a criminal defendant can be held liable to forfeit only crime proceeds the defendant personally obtained,...more
Over the past year, regulators continued to actively examine compliance, introduce new and heightened requirements, recalibrate global priorities, and aggressively pursue enforcement. This report reviews recent trends and...more
4/28/2017
/ BSA/AML ,
Cuba ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FATF ,
Financial Services Committee ,
FinCEN ,
Iran ,
NYDFS ,
Russia ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
In recent years, the U.S. Department of Justice has stepped up its use of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 to pursue civil enforcement actions against financial institutions and their...more
The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) recently finalized a regulation that mandates detailed elements of the anti-money laundering (AML) transaction monitoring and sanctions filtering programs of covered...more
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on May 11 released its long-awaited Final Rule (CDD Rule) that will require certain financial institutions to “look through” the nominal account holder to identify the...more
6/2/2016
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Beneficial Owner ,
Covered Financial Institutions ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
Customer Identification Program (CIP) ,
FATF ,
Final Rules ,
FinCEN ,
Legal Entities ,
Panama Papers ,
Risk-Based Approaches ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
Banks and credit unions that issue reloadable, general purpose prepaid cards must apply Customer Identification Program (CIP) procedures to those cardholders, according to guidance issued by the federal banking regulators and...more
Overview -
On January 13, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued Geographic Targeting Orders (GTOs) that will temporarily require title insurance companies to report...more
A federal district court in Minnesota recently held that the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) permits the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to bring suit against individuals for willfully violating the BSA's AML program...more
On January 16, 2016, the United States, its negotiating partners and Iran announced the arrival of Implementation Day for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), to which the parties agreed on July 14, 2015 with...more
The New York Department of Financial Services has issued a proposed regulation that sets forth minimum requirements for anti-money laundering transaction monitoring systems and watch list filtering systems. The proposed...more
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has proposed long-expected regulations that would extend anti-money laundering (AML) requirements to federally registered investment advisers (RIA). The August 25, 2015...more
9/4/2015
/ Banking Examinations ,
Banks ,
Broker-Dealer ,
BSA/AML ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Due Diligence ,
Enforcement ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Industry Examinations ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Funds ,
Private Investment Funds ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Public Comment ,
SAR
On July 14, 2015, the United States and its P5+1 negotiating partners, together with Iran, announced the final terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) concerning Iran’s nuclear program. The JCPOA is designed...more
7/16/2015
/ Banking Sector ,
Energy Sector ,
Financial Institutions ,
Foreign Relations ,
IAEA ,
Iran ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) ,
Nuclear Power ,
P5+1 Nations ,
Trade Relations ,
UN Security Council ,
United Nations
For the first time in a decade, the Treasury Department has released its own anti–money laundering (AML) and terrorist financing Risk Assessments, which may both set a strategic framework for future AML regulatory...more
6/19/2015
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Anti-Terrorism Financing ,
Banking Sector ,
Casinos ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Digital Currency ,
FATF ,
Financial Institutions ,
Prepaid Payment Products ,
Risk Assessment ,
Securities ,
U.S. Treasury