U.S. law enforcement officials are increasingly focusing their attention on the use by Mexican drug cartels of shell companies and corporate bank accounts in China and Hong Kong to launder proceeds from narcotics sales, sources told ACAMS moneylaundering.com.
Domestic banks and U.S.-headquartered affiliates in Mexico have increased their supply of know-your-customer and transactional information to institutions in the United States under a bilateral agreement finalized last year, say sources.
A U.S. Treasury Department order last summer calling for greater reporting by armored car companies in Southern California has driven a sharp spike in federal cash seizures near San Diego.
Companies linked to an ongoing trade-based money laundering operation in the Los Angeles fashion district are willing to break the law again, provided their payouts are more effectively disguised, an investigator said Tuesday.
Beginning this month, businesses in Los Angeles' Fashion District must record when they accept $3,000 or more in cash, the U.S. Treasury Department said Thursday.
Mexico's partial reversal of 2010 limits on U.S. dollar deposits will make it easier for narcotics traffickers to launder drug proceeds through Mexican banks, according to current and former investigators.
The U.S. Treasury Department said Friday that, in response to law enforcement concerns, armored car services and other couriers transporting cash between Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego, California must comply with enhanced border declaration requirements.