News
U.S. Prosecutors’ Tactical Shift in Terror Cases May Put Banks Under Microscope
By Brian Orsak
printU.S. prosecutors have shifted tactics in trying terrorist financing cases, a move that may translate into regulatory trouble for banks, say former law enforcement officials. The Justice Department, following high-profile failures in terrorism-related cases-such as a mistrial in October against the leaders of Muslim charity Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development-is prosecuting suspected terrorists for white collar crimes rather than terrorism-specific charges. The technique, known as the Al Capone approach, has long been used in cases involving organized crime and drug trafficking. The shift will free Justice Department resources so it can bring forward more cases. That may resonate...
TO READ THE FULL STORY
Related News
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.
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.
The Senate Thursday named David Cohen the nation's top sanctions official after legislators agreed to end a standoff over the U.S. Treasury Department's implementation of financial measures aimed at Iran.
Less than two years after U.S. diplomats mentioned concerns that Qatar's terrorist financing problems may be "the worst in the region," the country has done little to effectively limit the crime, say experts.
Egypt's decision to reopen the Gaza Strip's most important land-based port of entry will complicate international efforts to stem funding for designated terrorist group Hamas, say critics of the move.
Documents and data seized Sunday by the United States during the military raid that killed Osama Bin Laden will likely give officials insight into how the terror group's financial network operates, say analysts.
A Beirut-based lender acted as a "primary money laundering concern" by handling hundreds of millions of dollars for drug traffickers and a designated terrorist organization, U.S. officials said Thursday.
Though mobile banking and stored value cards have created new opportunities for financial crimes, many terrorist organizations still rely on petty fraud to raise money, at times through financial institutions, according to a former U.K. terror investigator.
The U.S. Justice Department will more aggressively use legal tools to freeze assets and detect financial wrongdoing as part of a larger strategy to combat international organized crime, the department said today.
In the push by global governments for greater financial transparency and greater privacy guarantees, large financial institutions are left struggling to reconcile these two competing principles. The conflict is most striking for banks dealing with so-called secrecy jurisdictions.