On June 28, 2024, the US Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network announced long-anticipated proposed rules on anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism program effectiveness;...more
7/25/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Anti-Terrorism Financing ,
Compliance ,
FDIC ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Agencies ,
FinCEN ,
NCUA ,
NPRM ,
OCC ,
Proposed Rules ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
Although the Corporate Transparency Act’s (“CTA”) new beneficial ownership rule goes into effect on January 1, 2024, recent polling suggests that many businesses remain either unaware of these upcoming reporting obligations...more
Companies faced with the decision of whether to voluntarily self-report sanctions breaches to law enforcement or sanctions enforcement agencies in the UK and the US can take some measure of comfort from recent comments made...more
10/16/2023
/ Compliance ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Export Controls ,
Good Faith ,
Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Sanction Violations ,
Self-Reporting ,
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
U.S. Treasury ,
UK ,
Voluntary Disclosure
The rise of ransomware attacks has prompted the international community to explore a range of approaches to deter these attacks, including the use of sanctions, the further development and instantiation of norms governing...more
6/2/2023
/ Blocked Person ,
Compliance ,
Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Malware ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Ransomware ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Risk-Based Approaches ,
Russia ,
SDN List
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has updated its ‘enforcement and monetary penalties for breaches of financial sanctions’ guidance, which was last updated in June 2022. ...more
3/23/2023
/ Business Ownership ,
Change of Ownership ,
Compliance ,
Control Test ,
Due Diligence ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Guidance Update ,
Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) ,
Penalties ,
Strict Liability ,
UK
On September 21, 2021, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) levied its first sanctions against a Russian-operated virtual currency exchange involved in ransomware payments and published an...more
9/24/2021
/ Advisory Opinions ,
AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Compliance ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Currency Exchange ,
Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
FinCEN ,
Know Your Customers ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Ransomware ,
Russia ,
SDN List ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Virtual Currency
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) has continued a spate of regulatory activity related to financial crimes compliance matters in the first year of the Biden Administration, recapped in its recent report...more
7/15/2021
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Banking Sector ,
Biden Administration ,
Compliance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Drug Trafficking ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Human Trafficking ,
No-Action Letters ,
Nonbank Firms ,
Ransomware ,
Significant Transnational Criminal Organization ,
Terrorism Funding ,
Virtual Currency
On June 3, 2021, President Biden issued a National Security Memorandum establishing the fight against corruption both at home and abroad as a core United States national security interest and directing the development of a...more
6/9/2021
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Biden Administration ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Financial Institutions ,
Foreign Corporations ,
Government Agencies ,
National Security ,
NDAA ,
Patriot Act ,
Presidential Memorandum ,
Transparency
On April 29, 2021, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced two settlements of potential civil liability with two companies over their apparent violations of its regulations. The...more
5/7/2021
/ Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Compliance ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Due Diligence ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
Exports ,
Money Transfer ,
Moneygram ,
Non-Prosecution Agreements ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Pass-Through Entities ,
SAP SE ,
SDN List ,
Settlement ,
Subsidiaries ,
Third-Party Risk ,
Voluntary Disclosure
Two recent actions by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) - one enforcement action and one interpretive note - focus attention on the kinds of anti–money laundering (AML) controls needed for banks to custody...more
8/7/2020
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
BSA/AML ,
Compliance ,
Consent Order ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Custody ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
OCC
In this alert, we summarize recent guidance from federal regulators and self-regulatory organizations - including the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Office of...more
4/28/2020
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
CARES Act ,
Compliance ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Fraud ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Agencies ,
Financial Stimulus ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)
On December 13, 2019, the National Security Division (NSD) of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a revised policy regarding voluntary disclosure of export control and sanctions violations by business organizations...more
12/27/2019
/ Amended Regulation ,
Arms Export Control Act ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
Compliance ,
Cooperation ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Control Reform Act (ECRA) ,
Export Controls ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
ITAR ,
National Security ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Voluntary Disclosure ,
Willful Blindness ,
Willful Misconduct
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