News
US Sanctions Against Latin American Ranchers Reflect Broader Cartel Ties
By Colby Adams
printBank compliance staff should more thoroughly scrutinize clients tied to Central America and Mexico's cattle industry following a spate of related U.S. sanctions, say current and former officials. Since April, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, OFAC, has separately blacklisted four cattle companies in Honduras and Mexico for allegedly helping three drug-trafficking cartels disguise their profits. The designated entities have ranged from cattle ranches to sales companies. Constrained by the need to protect their intelligence sources, the Treasury Department is nonetheless suggesting "a pattern of activity" of which banks should take note, said Brian Grant, a former...
TO READ THE FULL STORY
Related News
Latin America's economic growth has outpaced its development of institutions tasked with fighting financial crime, according to Monica Arruda de Almeida, an adjunct assistant professor for the Center for Latin American Studies at Georgetown University who researches transnational regulation.
Mexican officials will extend until February an upcoming deadline for nonbank companies to implement anti-money laundering controls, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.
An agreement formalizing cooperation between a Mexican financial regulator and a U.S. overseer of money services businesses and banks is likely to result in more enforcement actions in both countries.
Recent investigations indicate that a number of Mexican brokerage firms are converting drug profits into pesos and using a network of couriers to layer the money in American bank accounts.
Plans to attract foreign capital and expertise to Mexico's oil sector could give organized crime groups and corrupt officials an opportunity to layer and integrate dirty money, say industry analysts.
A list of alleged Mexican drug traffickers could aid anti-money laundering departments in identifying suspicious transactions, say compliance officers.
U.S. lawmakers may need to earmark more money for Mexico's financial intelligence unit as part of a $1.9 billion aid package intended to help fight drug trafficking, a federal official said Thursday.
The U.S. government's landmark case against HSBC Holdings Plc for knowingly turning a blind eye to financial crime is seemingly fated to end much as it began: complex and messy.
Changes to the final version of Mexico's new anti-money laundering law leave important gaps in the nation's compliance regime, and may elicit criticism from an intergovernmental policymaker, say analysts.
When Mexico's President Felipe Calderon relinquishes power in December to his successor, he'll leave behind a decidedly mixed legacy in the fight against the country's drug cartels. But U.S. law enforcement agents and other officials worry that Mexico's next leader could do worse, sources say.
France approved an investigator's request for an arrest warrant for the son of Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema on money laundering charges, Uganda's Parliament is pushing to pass an anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing bill, and more, in the midweek roundup.
Mexico has lost as much $91 billion per year to capital flight associated with tax evasion and corruption during the last decade, according to a report by an American advocacy group.
Narcocorrido balladeers can profit by praising crime in their songs without living the lifestyle. But they can also have direct links to Mexican drug cartels, including by helping to launder dirty money.
American officials are investigating whether banks accepting cash declared by individuals entering the United States from Mexico are filing regulatory reports with the U.S. Treasury Department, say compliance professionals.
A broad anti-money laundering measure that would create and strengthen criminal penalties and impose reporting requirements on non-bank institutions in Mexico is likely to pass into law this month, say former government officials.
Mexican drug traffickers are likely laundering some of their profits in the country's casinos and nightclubs, as well as in campaign funds for political candidates, according to a leaked U.S. diplomatic communiqué.
Despite reports that 30 percent of Mexico's currency is derived from illicit funds, many compliance officers are just now waking up to the reality of the country's extensive money laundering problems, according to an AML consultant who works with MSBs.
Of the up to $39 billion in illegal funds smuggled from the United States into Mexico every year, approximately half ends up in Mexican financial institutions, according to a former official in the U.S. Treasury and Justice Departments.
New rules restricting U.S. dollar deposits at Mexican banks could end up pushing billions in illicit cash through U.S. and Latin American financial institutions, say compliance professionals.
A report by the Colombian financial intelligence unit revealed the FARC, long believed to depend primarily on cocaine proceeds, actually gets more money from kidnapping and cattle theft.