Federal cases against attorneys, accountants and other professionals suspected of washing illicit proceeds have risen by roughly 30 percent in the year since the FBI began actively targeting third-party facilitators, according to the head of the bureau's money laundering unit.
U.S. officials on Wednesday ordered title insurance firms to disclose high-value cash purchases of real estate in California, Texas, Florida and New York as part of an effort to identify money laundering.
The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday directed title insurance firms involved in real estate transactions to collect data on the beneficial owners of companies acquiring luxury properties in Manhattan and Miami with cash.
Lax enforcement of Canada's anti-money laundering laws and regulations have helped make British Columbian property an attractive investment for criminals, according to Kenneth Marsh, a former investigator of organized crime for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Real estate title companies, appraisers and escrow agents may be required to file suspicious activity reports and perform customer due diligence, a U.S. Treasury Department official said Monday.
The Financial Action Task Force called notaries and registrars "the weakest link" in efforts to limit real estate laundering, in part, because some jurisdictions have yet to enforce AML requirements for those professionals.
Marc Hambach, an assistant director of the Dubai Financial Services Authority and head of its AML department, spoke with reporter Brian Orsak about the process of developing regulations for one of the fast growing financial hubs in the world.