In July 2024, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Treasury’s Financial Crime Enforcement Network and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) released a joint notice discussing how Mexican-based Transnational...more
In the rapidly evolving financial landscape, governments worldwide are intensifying their focus on compliance in Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) efforts for financial institutions. Trade-Based Money...more
What You Need to Know - In October 2023, the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) enacted multiple sanctions targeting the supply chain of fentanyl and other illicit drugs. In addition to...more
Trade-based money laundering (TBML) describes a set of techniques through which drug traffickers, terrorists and other criminals use the veneer of trade to move illicit funds across borders while disguising the origin and...more
The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) will affect most small, privately held businesses starting January 1, 2024. Does the CTA apply to you? What is the CTA? The CTA, a law enacted by Congress, will require certain business...more
Both individuals and companies risk severe penalties if they contribute to money laundering, even if the contribution is the result of negligence. By appointing an anti-money laundering officer organisations will reduce their...more
We previously blogged on an advisory issued by FinCEN alerting financial institutions to the various financial mechanisms used by traffickers of fentanyl and synthetic opioids to launder the burgeoning proceeds of their...more
Ankura's Nova O sits down with Mark McGrath, Ayana Murphy, and Elif Cinar to discuss the current anti-money laundering (AML) landscape in the latest Q&A with our Ankura experts. Learn more about responding to the increased...more
The metaverse is still in its nascent stages, and the Chinese government is already increasingly focused on its development and regulation. At the March 2022 “Two Sessions” (两会), a term given to the back-to-back annual...more
At the direction of the President, FinCEN is intensifying its regulation of banks and fintechs across the spectrum of the laws that it is charged with enforcing. This past June, the White House published the Memorandum on...more
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
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) remains committed to combating money laundering, in all forms, in connection with the banking and financial systems. To this end, on June 30, 2021, FinCEN issued new...more
FinCEN announces eight areas of focus and advises preparation for issuance of new regulations - On June 30, 2021, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued the first...more
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on June 30, 2021, issued national priorities for anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) policy (the Priorities), as required by the...more
Donald Rumsfeld died yesterday. When the definitive history of the 21st century is written, no one man may play a more central role than Rumsfeld. The reason? He led America into its disastrous war in Iraq. Not only was the...more
On 26 April 2021, the UK’s first sanctions under the Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/488) (“the Regulations”) came into force. The Regulations are made under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering...more
As 2020 drew to a close, enforcement authorities throughout the United States and the Americas continued to investigate fraud, corruption, and other misconduct across the region. Below, we highlight some developments from...more
New federal requirements in the annual national defense budget reauthorization effectively will end anonymous U.S. shell companies by requiring businesses to disclose 25 percent owners and control persons to a newly created...more
On October 8, 2020, Attorney General William Barr announced the release of a Cryptocurrency Enforcement Framework produced by the Department of Justice (DOJ) Cyber-Digital Task Force. The 83-page framework is intended to help...more
“Front” Seafood Businesses Allegedly Hid the Proceeds From Smuggled Shark Fins and Marijuana Distribution - Last week, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia unsealed an indictment returned in July,...more
Last week, the House Financial Services Committee Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy held a hearing on transnational trafficking networks and illicit finances. Titled “The...more
On 2/6/2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued the 2020 National Strategy for Combating Terrorist and Other Illicit Financing (2020 Strategy). The purpose of the 2020 Strategy is to...more
U.S. Developments - Enforcement and Litigation Developments - Craig Wright Faces Sanctions - Craig Wright, the self-proclaimed inventor of Bitcoin, has been tied up in litigation since February 2018 related to his...more
On August 21, 2019, FinCEN issued an advisory (the “Advisory”) alerting financial institutions to various financial schemes and mechanisms employed by fentanyl and synthetic opioid traffickers to facilitate the illegal...more
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