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FinCEN Warns Banks of Funnel Activity Tied to Mexican Trade-Based Laundering
By Colby Adams
printIn response to Mexico's restrictions on U.S. dollar deposits, drug traffickers have turned to funneling dirty money through accounts opened for seemingly legitimate businesses, American officials warned Wednesday. In an advisory, the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) said that the shift in tactics follows Mexico's 2010 decision to limit cash deposits of U.S. dollars at banks, currency exchangers and casas de bolsa, a type of brokerage firm. The bureau warned of the use of so-called funnel accounts in 2011 and 2012 but did not tie the activity to trade-based money laundering. Criminal groups use the accounts to...
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