The National Futures Association fined a Florida forex trader $250,000 Friday for anti-money laundering compliance failures, the largest such monetary penalty handed down by the self-regulatory organization.
The U.S. Treasury Department's financial intelligence unit and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission will share data in an effort to better enforce the Bank Secrecy Act among futures commission merchants.
A crackdown by the futures industry's self-regulatory organization this year has resulted in a record number of enforcement actions against companies operating in the multi-trillion dollar risk-laden industry.
The NFA stated that Forex International Investments, Inc. failed to adequately train its employees and properly file suspicious activity reports.
The NFA, in a complaint issued Wednesday, cited the Fort Dodge, Iowa-based company for failure to have a written AML program. The NFA, which issued two Bank Secrecy Act related enforcement actions in 2006, said the failure was identified in an October 2005 audit.
The National Futures Association penalized Angus Jackson Futures Inc. $10,000 for anti-money laundering program deficiencies in the third regulatory action the organization handed down in a month.
The NFA expelled Mercer Capital Inc. in Portland, Ore., for using "high-pressure sales techniques" and "misleading statements" and Mercer Capital Management in Boca Raton, Fla., for failing to keep proper records and failing to "initiate an adequate anti-money laundering program."
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