FINCast Ep. 19 - The DPRK Sanctions Program
Hosted by the Canadian Institute, the 23rd Annual Canadian Forum on Anti-Money Laundering and Financial Crime returns for another exciting year. The event features carefully curated programming providing practical guidance...more
U.S. government agencies continue to take action against cryptocurrency mixing services that enable cybercriminals to obfuscate the trail of stolen proceeds on public blockchains stemming from illicit cyber activity. On...more
The U.S. authorities are increasingly taking actions against big-name crypto mixers for potential violations of sanctions regulations. On November 29, 2023, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control...more
In two prior posts, this blog tracked the ongoing intrigue of how the various branches of the United States government interact with blockchain and cryptocurrency organizations. We discussed the Wyoming law allowing...more
CryptoLink is a compilation of news stories published by outside organizations. Akin aggregates these stories, but the information contained in them does not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of the firm. Akin's...more
Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixer, recently suffered two major setbacks in federal regulatory efforts to block its use and prosecute its founders. First, a federal district court threw out a lawsuit challenging the...more
On August 4, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) sent a letter to the White House National Security Advisor and the Treasury Department’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial...more
DeFi, Stablecoin Products Launch; Bitcoin Network Spikes Due to NFTs - According to reports, a new decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol recently launched that allows users to deposit the stablecoins USDC or DAI in a...more
New Campaign Targets Telecom and Business Process Outsourcing Corporations - An increase in the targeting of telecommunications and business process outsourcing (BPO) companies has been identified and tied to a new...more
Executive Summary - The North Korean threat to the crypto ecosystem is the highest form of immediate risk to the crypto-economy driven by a regime that seeks to profit from its misuse to reinforce its regime and fuel all its...more
An inherent aspect of any new technology is that it doesn’t take long for bad actors to figure out how it can be weaponized for nefarious purposes. Cyber-related technologies represent an increasingly dangerous area of risk...more
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Tornado Cash. As a result, all property and interests in property of Tornado Cash that is in the United States or in the...more
In late December 2021, President Joe Biden signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA). The new law creates a rebuttable presumption that any goods created in whole or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous...more
ACI’s Annual Flagship Conference on Economic Sanctions Enforcement and Compliance is widely regarded as the premier conference designed for those working in global sanctions compliance, internal audits and investigations,...more
TikTok Will Partner with Oracle in the United States After Microsoft Loses Bid - "TikTok and Oracle will become business partners in the United States — a deal meant to satisfy the Trump administration's national security...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a civil forfeiture complaint detailing two hacks of virtual currency exchanges by North Korean actors. These actors stole millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency or other...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a civil forfeiture complaint detailing two hacks of virtual currency exchanges by North Korean actors. These actors stole millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency and...more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced last week and earlier this month civil forfeiture actions brought by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia to seize stolen or laundered virtual currency...more
In the past, sanctioned jurisdictions like Venezuela have embraced virtual currency as a way to bypass channels that involve U.S. dollars, blunting the impact of U.S. economic sanctions policies aimed at isolating those...more
Case Sheds Light on Latest Methods to Evade Detection: “Peeling” Chains - On March 2, the U.S. government sanctioned and indicted two Chinese nationals for helping North Korea launder nearly $100 million in stolen...more
U.S. Developments - U.S. Regulatory Developments - Bill Addressing Tax Treatment of Crypto Transactions Introduced to the House - On January 16, 2020, Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA) and Congressman David Schweikert...more
CYBERSECURITY - Financial Conduct Authority Warns Banking Industry of ICOs and Cryptocurrency - Writing a “Dear CEO” letter to banking executives, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warned executives on June 11,...more
ANTICORRUPTION DEVELOPMENTS – Canadian Mining Company Settles with SEC over FCPA Charges – On March 26, Kinross Gold Corporation settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over its alleged failure to...more