News

The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday accused one of Latvia’s largest banks of having knowingly helped corrupt officials, arms traffickers and other criminals move profits through accounts held by foreign clients and anonymous shell companies. In a notice of proposed rulemaking, the department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, moved to designate ABLV a “foreign bank of primary money laundering concern” under section 311 of the Patriot Act and bar the lender from holding U.S. correspondent accounts. ABLV’s employees, managers and two owners “institutionalized money laundering” as a core component of their operations, and bribed Latvian officials to stave off...