U.S. lawmakers called for testimony from federal investigators Thursday as part of an effort to push for more aggressive punishment of individuals and financial institutions that aid money launderers and sanctions dodgers.
With a newly elected president and Congress, many have argued that it's time to reassess the post-September 11, 2001 counter terrorism financing regime. Uniquely qualified to lead that discussion at the 14th Annual International Money Laundering Conference are Dennis Lormel and Michael German.
New Year's Eve may have come and gone and all of the post-celebration headaches faded, but financial institutions are going to need many more months to recover from 2008.
Prosecutions and convictions citing 18 USC 1956, the primary money laundering statute, are up over 350 percent in 2007 from the previous year in cases involving national security and terrorism, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a Syracuse University organization.
Mexican authorities took Mario Villanueva Madrid into custody June 21 as he left prison after completing a six-year sentence on a money laundering conviction. Villanueva, the former mayor of Mexicos Quintana Roo state, is wanted in New York on drug trafficking and money laundering charges.
U.S. Representative William Jefferson pleaded not guilty today to federal charges that he solicited more than $400,000 in bribes to advance business dealings between U.S. companies and Nigerian officials.
John Imhoff, the deputy chief of the IRS criminal investigations unit, speaks about the divisions efforts to investigate tax and money laundering-related narcotics cases and its struggles to get the most out of its resources.