The U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network disclosed a $500,000 civil monetary penalty Wednesday against a Bronx-based credit union for what the bureau said were willful failures to comply with anti-money laundering regulations. In a 9-page assessment, FinCEN said that Bethex Federal Credit Union, which last year was taken into conservatorship, then liquidated, by the National Credit Union Association in part as a result of reputational damage incurred from its AML deficiencies, initially operated as a community lender providing account services to low and middle-income clients. But the credit union's operations expanded dramatically in 2011, when it began processing transfers for...
Drug traffickers and other criminals are increasingly seeking out indirect relationships with community banks and credit unions to move and launder their illicit proceeds after being turned away by larger financial institutions, say sources.
print