The release of the Pandora Papers, a leak of approximately 12 million documents, exposed how foreign leaders and private actors use tax havens to conceal their wealth, with the United States a destination of choice. For...more
With the recent release of the “Pandora Papers,” renewed attention is focused on corporate ownership transparency. Earlier this year, Congress passed the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”). The CTA was enacted to combat the...more
The U.S. Department of the Treasury 2020 Strategy (National Strategy for Combating Terrorist and Other Illicit Financing released on February 6, 2020) describes ongoing significant AML/CFT threats. ...more
There is a Bill (H.R. 6068), originally drafted on November 14, 2017, called the Counter Terrorism and Illicit Finance Act (CTIFA). The Bill intended to propose a substantial overhaul to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). ...more
The beleaguered law firm at the center of the international Panama Papers scandal – Mossack Fonseca – has announced that it is closing its doors. It offered no apologies....more
Sometimes it takes a scandal to advance a policy or law enforcement cause. The Panama Papers scandal has given new life to financial regulators around the world who seek to impose customer due diligence requirements on banks...more
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), collaborating with German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, in spring 2016 began leaking approximately 11 million internal documents obtained without permission...more
In the wake of the "Panama Papers" – the unprecedented leak of 11.5 million files from a Panamanian law firm that revealed thousands of names and addresses linked to offshore companies – the White House has announced several...more
On May 10, 2016, the Treasury Department issued proposed regulations that, if approved, will require business entities formed in the United States that are owned by a single foreign person to obtain an employer identification...more
When Senator Levin, the Democrat from Michigan, announced his retirement from the Senate in 2014, you could hear a collective sigh of relief from the corporate business community. Senator Levin had dedicated himself to...more
When a scandal hits the media like the Panama Papers leak of 11.5 million confidential legal records, we all know what to expect. Criminal investigations, regulatory responses, and of course, congressional hearings of some...more
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) announced that on May 9, it will release selected data purported to be leaked or stolen from the internal records of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca....more
On April 3, 2016, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (“ICIJ”) published more than 11.5 million documents connected to Mossack Fonseca, a Panama law firm that helped establish offshore financial...more
The media loves a scandal. In the banking and compliance world, the latest scandal to hit the media was the Panama Papers. The Panama Papers is surprising in scope – Panama has become the favorite financial haven for money...more