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Weekly Roundup: U.S., EU Impose More Sanctions on Syria, Noriega Faces Extradition Back to Panama, and More
printThe International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a report Wednesday that credited the United Kingdom with improving its anti-money laundering (AML) regime. Following up on a June 2007 Financial Action Task Force report, the IMF found that the U.K. had addressed deficiencies in monitoring politically exposed persons and in supervising designated non-financial businesses and professions. The U.K also got points requiring financial institutions to monitor transactions involving high-risk countries and put their findings in writing. However, the report noted that improvements over the control of bearer shares were still needed. More Europe and the United States tightened sanctions against Syria this...
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The U.S. Senate is investigating HSBC Holdings PLC for money laundering, a defendant in a FCPA case is requesting to have most of the charges against him dropped, and more, in the midweek roundup.
Iran's central bank prepares to sue to win back $2 billion in frozen assets, the U.S. Treasury Department blacklists the heads of a money laundering ring based in Panama and Colombia, and more, in this week's news roundup.
The Justice Department launches investigations into three Israeli banks and continues its probe into the financial network of R. Allen Stanford, in this week's news roundup.
Two banks were dinged in consent orders Friday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) violations, the European Union imposed sanctions against Syria, Libya's rebel government began the search for assets allegedly purloined by the Gaddafi family, and more.
Norway's first terrorist financing trial begins, a Pennsylvania bank enters into a consent order with the OCC and more, in this week's roundup.
The Department of Justice enters into a settlement agreement with two payment processors over their alleged involvement with illegal online gambling funds, a New York broker dealer gets fined for AML violations, in this week's roundup.
Obama signed the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Divestment Act into law, Florida Governor Charlie Crist set to be a witness in a corruption case, and more, in this week's roundup.
U.S. and European relations figured prominently in the news this week. On Thursday, Swiss legislators approved an agreement allowing U.S. access to data on nearly 4000 UBS AG account holders and Tuesday, the European Commission adopted a draft agreement to exchange terror information with the U.S.
U.S. and Mexican officials announce the findings of a study on how drug money moves between the two countries and the European Commission tells France it could face monetary penalties for not complying with the EU's Third Directive, in this week's news roundup.
Canada's FIU hands out two small AML fines, U.S. plans to initiate thousands of new tax evasion cases and actor Sean Connery is tied to a money laundering probe, in this week's news roundup.
The European Union and the United States move ahead with negotiations over Swift interbank data and a New York court sentences an alleged terrorist financier to ten years in prison, in this week's news roundup.
U.S. efforts to stifle al-Qaida's finances are paying off and Swiss financial institutions filed a record number of SARs in 2009, in this week's news roundup.
Although it was a relatively quiet week in anti-money laundering news, a settlement agreement for $217 million between Lloyds Bank TSB and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) proved that the holidays didn't distract regulators from sanctions and compliance issues.
The prosecution of high-profile, alleged Ponzi schemes kept money laundering in the headlines this week as a federal court convicted a Minnesota businessman for bilking investors of $3.5 billion and investigators arrested a well-known Florida lawyer for allegedly stealing over $1 billion.
The U.S. Justice Department continues to seized more than $3.2 million in nearly 400 accounts tied to narcotics dealers, Transparency International published its annual corruption report and more, in this weeks roundup.
In other AML news this week, the New Zealand government passed an AML bill and the SEC said it has expanded its cooperation with foreign governments in securities fraud investigations.