News
Synthetic Cannabinoid’s Potential Terror Finance Links ‘Absolutely’ a Concern, Says DEA Agent
printIt starts as a chemical, shipped in some cases as "detergent" or "potpourri" to warehouses in the United States, where it is sprayed onto plants using readily available hardware and then sold to individuals looking for a legal high. But in addition to causing hundreds of overdoses in Colorado alone, recently, synthetic cannabinoid may have links to terrorist groups and criminal syndicates. The revelation is a recent one for federal investigators, according to Donald Im, an assistant special agent in charge in the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Financial Operations division. The agency recently took part in a multinational crackdown on...
TO READ THE FULL STORY
Related News
The U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted a Chinese national and his chemical supply company Thursday as part of a broader American crackdown on suppliers of synthetic narcotics and their financial networks.
In a coordinated effort last May, federal, state and local law enforcement officers across 29 states descended on gas stations, corner stores and smoke shops selling synthetic cannabinoids. Authorities arrested over 150 individuals and seized tens of millions of dollars in assets.
This time last December, one might reasonably have expected that 2014 would be a year of modest changes for the anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance sector. Then came JPMorgan Chase, BNP Paribas and a convoy of Russian tanks to quash that notion.
A little-noticed amendment to a U.S. appropriations bill could do what lawmakers and lobbying groups alike have failed to do: ensure that banks don't pay for taking on state-licensed cannabis companies.
Should suspicions that drug traffickers infiltrated the compliance department of a U.S.-owned bank in Mexico prove valid, it won't be the first example of such a scheme, or the last.
Looking at two guidance pieces from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) you get a quick lesson in how difficult it can be to regulate issues that society -let alone state and federal government- hasn't reached a consensus on.
As federal and state officials continue down the road toward relaxing cannabis restrictions, banks have questions beyond simply whether they can accept marijuana dispensaries as clients. They wonder whether less direct financial ties to the businesses could be cause for concern too.
The United States should strengthen its efforts to fight money laundering and terrorist financing associated with Afghan opium ahead of a military withdrawal from the nation, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
In the strange and often obscure world of terrorist financing, an account's lack of transactional activity seems an unlikely red flag for anti-money laundering compliance officers.
A number of marijuana dispensaries are attempting to convert their profits into securities and other investments to hedge against the threat of having their bank accounts frozen and subjected to federal asset forfeiture proceedings, say sources.
Recent investigations indicate that a number of Mexican brokerage firms are converting drug profits into pesos and using a network of couriers to layer the money in American bank accounts.
Plans to attract foreign capital and expertise to Mexico's oil sector could give organized crime groups and corrupt officials an opportunity to layer and integrate dirty money, say industry analysts.
Recent disclosures of alleged trade-based money laundering schemes perpetrated by Mexico's Los Zetas drug cartel demonstrates the group's growing ability to diversify their methods of illicit finance, say sources.
Mexican cartel members are exploiting mirror accounts in the United States and Mexico to launder money and evade U.S. dollar deposit restrictions, financial regulators said Thursday.
Less than two years after U.S. diplomats mentioned concerns that Qatar's terrorist financing problems may be "the worst in the region," the country has done little to effectively limit the crime, say experts.
Thousands of lightly regulated currency exchange centers in Mexico are suspected of laundering criminal proceeds for drug trafficking organizations, according to analysts and former Mexican government officials.
The disclosure that Saudi Arabia has become one of the world's largest sources of terrorist financing has raised questions about the willingness of intergovernmental groups to clamp down on nations with strong international alliances.
The Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday unanimously passed a bill designed to collect billions of dollars in lost state tax revenue and block terror financiers from profiting from black market cigarettes.
Mobile payments with little or no bank involvement are highly vulnerable to money laundering, terror finance and other criminal abuse, according to Bank Secrecy Act compliance officers and attorneys.
Africa is fast becoming one of the world's largest hubs for smuggling cocaine, heroin and prescription drugs from South America and Asia into Europe and the United States, according to a United Nations watchdog group.