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From Petroleum to Produce, Commodities Offer Array of Laundering Options, Says HSI Official
printWithin the cargo containers lined along American ports and the semi-trailer trucks driven past U.S. border crossings, there is at times more than just goods en route to a profitable sale. Less detectable and often hidden within the paperwork, illicit value is an occasional stowaway. For law enforcement officials, such schemes prove challenging to detect because organized crime groups operate much like "huge corporations," enlisting third-parties to help exploit commodities that range from electronics to diamonds to garments, according to Hector Colon, a director with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and a head of its Trade Transparency Unit. Colon, who has...
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Trade-based schemes and bulk cash smuggling are among the most common tactics used by international money launderers, according to Joseph Gallion, the deputy assistant director of the Financial, Narcotics and Special Operations Division for the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
Three recently adopted international treaties drafted to foster trade between the Americas and Europe will also make it easier for financial criminals to launder money, say attorneys and former investigators.
Revisions to Mexico's anti-money laundering strategy promised earlier this month must account for regulatory-gaps in trade-based money laundering, the continuing problem of casas de cambio and the use of U.S. dollars in Mexico, say ex-law enforcement officials and compliance professionals.
Criminals are exploiting inadequate safeguards in free trade zones to launder money, evade taxes and illegally ship material used to build weapons of mass destruction, according to an intergovernmental group.
The U.S. Treasury Department's financial intelligence unit issued guidance Thursday on how to spot and report transactions tied to trade-based money laundering, a type of crime on the rise.
Countries need to establish training programs to help bank regulators and law enforcement agents detect the growing problem of trade-based money laundering, FATF said in guidance issued Tuesday.
Mexico and the United States will create a joint trade intelligence organization to collect and analyze data on the movement of goods between the two countries as part of an effort to stem money laundering and fraud.
The Financial Action Task Force, a global financial crime watchdog is set to release three reports highlighting the methods that money launderers and terrorists can employ to exploit trade and electronic commerce and facilitate weapons proliferation.
The Bush Administration is seeking a 7 percent budget increase next year for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that includes about $4 million for units that investigate bulk cash smuggling and trade finance-related money laundering.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official Kevin Delli-Colli spoke with Fortent Inform reporter Matt Squire on Nov. 28 about bulk cash smuggling and what banks should be looking for when it comes to trade transactions.