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The FBI and IRS are referring fewer cases to the U.S. Justice Department for criminal prosecutions, partly because of a shift in focus toward terrorism and immigration violations, a study found.
By targeting Sigue Corp. rather than the affiliated agents where alleged money laundering took place, the Justice Department "squandered a golden opportunity" to go after the element of the MSB industry that presents the greatest laundering risks, an AML consultant says.
U.S. authorities have unfairly escalated the penalties for Bank Secrecy Act violations by overusing criminal proceedings in cases that should be considered civil matters to be solved by regulators, legal professionals say.
The Justice Department, following high-profile failures in terrorism-related cases is prosecuting suspected terrorists on lesser, white collar charges. That may resonate in the financial world as institutions find themselves under greater scrutiny for AML and counter-terrorism financing compliance.
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.
