News
U.S. Financial Institutions Grapple with Banking High-Risk Islamic Charities
By Rachael Lee Coleman
printThe Islamic American Relief Agency described itself as an organization devoted to raising money for African famine crises. It distributed pamphlets soliciting tax-deductible donations to "empower disadvantaged people everywhere." The Missouri charity then funneled $1.4 million through an affiliate aid organization in Jordan to Iraq, a country then sanctioned by the U.S. government, and used its tax-exempt status to disguise the illegal transactions, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Federal prosecutors indicted Islamic American Relief and five of its associates Mar. 6 for laundering money, moving it to a sanctioned country, stealing federal funds, and violating tax laws. U.S. financial...
TO READ THE FULL STORY
Related News
In the financial compliance world, debt repayment doesn't usually attract much in the way of negative attention. But in the context of other red flags, sudden debt reimbursement can signal that a client is following a little-known stricture for Islamic soldiers who may soon die in battle.
Recent political turmoil and ever-rising regulatory expectations for banks have made it significantly tougher for British charities to send financial aid abroad, according to a survey.
The U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday unanimously passed a bill aimed at foreign banks that provide financial services to Hezbollah, an Iran-backed, Lebanon-based Shiite militant group.
A transactional data handover mandated under a $102 million settlement disclosed Tuesday between the U.S. Justice Department and a defunct Beirut bank will likely lead to new financial crime investigations.
As U.S. officials work to shield American prepaid cards from abuse by financial crooks, foreign-issued stored value products remain a relatively easy avenue to move money into the United States anonymously.
A decision by the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirming sanctions against Jordan's largest bank for not turning over data on suspicious accounts could leave some financial institutions with an unwanted choice, say attorneys.
The U.S. Treasury Department Friday fined a Sioux Falls, SD bank branch $10 million for not properly reporting instances of suspected structuring and terrorist financing.
Increases in the rates that U.S. states tax cigarette purchasers has led to a rise in tobacco smuggling by organized crime groups and terrorist financiers, say governmental officials.
U.S. officials have launched a criminal investigation after linking data seized at Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan to a Bank Secrecy Act report, counterterrorism investigators said Monday.
The U.S. Justice Department seized $150 million held for a Lebanese financial institution at accounts at five U.S. banks, as part of a crackdown on a purported terrorist financing network.
Despite a legal settlement reversing sanctions against an Ohio-based charity, most banks will view the individuals once associated with the group as too risky to take on as clients, say compliance officers.
In the years since a high-profile mistrial in the prosecution of a Texas charity, counterterrorism financing officials have shifted their focus away from nongovernmental organizations and toward individuals sending money abroad.
The U.S. Treasury Department's ability to freeze the funds of suspected terror financiers without a warrant is likely curtailed to emergency circumstances under a court order handed down last week.
Lawmakers are asking the U.S. Justice Department to clarify how it will prosecute individuals and groups that aid terrorist organizations, and whether those cases could involve innocent charity groups.
U.S. efforts to clamp down on terror financiers have been largely a success, a federal official told American lawmakers at a hearing in downtown Manhattan Tuesday.
U.S. lawmakers Thursday questioned how a blacklisted Lebanese terrorist organization works with political leaders and narco-traffickers in Latin America.
For bank compliance staff, the news might sound alarming: U.S. officials have questioned the British government over whether Islamic banking institutions have played loose with counterterrorism financing controls.
Any plans to return frozen assets to donors who unwittingly contributed the money to charities tied to terrorist organizations would likely face stiff legal resistance, a government official said Wednesday.
A program aimed at assuring donors that their donations to Muslim charities will not be handed over to terrorists is unlikely to offer any protections to banks, say terrorism consultants and former regulators.
A former U.S. Congressman took illegal payments from a Muslim charity accused of sending more than $130,000 to a terrorist with ties to al-Qaida and the Taliban, federal prosecutors say.