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High-profile sanctions cases are spurring large banks and third-party software vendors to improve how they identify when counterparts and clients secretly act on behalf of blacklisted entities, say compliance experts.
Banks were the subject of praise and a warning at a press conference on Monday unveiling a 317 count indictment against 11 corporations and five individuals for their alleged participation in a conspiracy involving an Iranian shipping company.
The Royal Bank of Scotland will pay the United States $500 million over Bank Secrecy Act and sanctions violations committed by the now defunct ABN Amro, U.S. officials said Monday.
We never said compliance professionals had it easy, and 2010 doesn't look to be a year when things will be any better for the anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing industry.
A Spanish judge's use of universal jurisdiction in a case involving a bank's alleged role in laundering money for Augusto Pinochet could affect how countries cooperate in prosecuting financial crimes.
The U.S. Treasury Department clarified Wednesday the circumstances under which it can blacklist an organization or person for providing material support to terrorist groups.
The United Kingdom's chief financial regulator is investigating the Royal Bank of Scotland Group for potential compliance violations of U.K. anti-money laundering rules, the bank disclosed Wednesday.
Bank of New York Mellon and the Russian government finalized an expected settlement Thursday of a lawsuit that had sought $22.5 billion for tax revenue lost to a money laundering scheme.
The Bank of New York Mellon settled a $22.5 billion civil lawsuit brought by the Russian government for the actions of a rogue bank employee who laundered billions of dollars, according to a statement issued Wednesday by Russia's finance minister.
Settlement talks between the Bank of New York Mellon and Russia over the country's alleged loss of taxes on $7.5 billion have stalled, according to a lawyer representing the federation.
Russia has offered to drop a controversial $22.5 billion lawsuit against Bank of New York Mellon in exchange for an $800 million settlement, a Russian financial newspaper reported Tuesday.
Online transactions tied to sanctioned countries could lead to monetary fines for individuals, businesses and banks, even when it's unclear that the Web sites involved are blacklisted, say former OFAC officials and consultants.
Financial institutions are struggling to determine how to comply with a federal ban on "facilitating" companies and individuals that do business with OFAC sanctioned countries, say compliance experts.
The Republic of the Netherlands must improve communication between agencies that investigate money laundering and terrorist financing and make better use of the suspicious transaction reporting information provided by financial institutions, according to a government audit report released Tuesday.
Belarusian authorities arrested Emanuel Zeltser, a Russia-born lawyer who practices in New York, on March 12, claiming he had entered the country with forged documents relating to a lawsuit over the disputed inheritance of Georgian billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili.
The Russian government has hired celebrated U.S. attorneys Alan Dershowitz and G. Robert Blakey to testify about U.S. RICO laws as part of its $22.5 billion lawsuit against the Bank of New York Mellon for its alleged role in a money laundering scheme.
The Russian government is seeking three times the amount of Russian money a Bank of New York employee helped launder through the institution under the U.S. Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act.
The Russian Customs Service sued the bank under U.S. law, the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act, in May for unpaid tariffs after a rogue bank employee helped transfer more than $7 billion out of Russia through illicit wire transfers. The case is being heard in a Russian court.
The Russian Customs Service is set to open its case in a $22.5 billion money laundering-related lawsuit against the Bank of New York on Monday after a hearing was delayed this week, a bank spokesman said.
Betsy Sue Scott, former head of the civil penalties division, says a recent increase of the maximum fines for OFAC violations will better fit the punishment to the crime. Violators previously were only receiving a "slap on the wrist" for serious offenses, she says.
