“Responsible Innovation” – What the coming regulation of FinTech will look like

Tweet Financial regulators balance innovation and protection Financial regulators serve two important functions for the financial system. 1. They support growth and innovation where it could improve access to finance, or the delivery of financial services or grow the economy. 2. At the same time,  they  protect consumers and society at large by supervising the financial […]

Structuring – How Moving Funds from China to Vancouver Often Mirrors How Columbian Drug Lords Move their Money

Tweet How is Some Money Moved from China? Often with Smurfs and Structuring. I am often asked how Chinese foreign nationals who have immigrated to the US, China, or EU, or are attempting to, move millions of dollars in funds to other countries unimpeded when there are Chinese banking regulations (commonly called currency controls) that […]

The Jihad Express –> Gaziantep Turkey still ISIS’ conduit city of choice

Tweet Jihad Express Gaziantep, Turkey appears to have emerged as a city of choice for terrorist financing and human trafficking for the Islamic State (“ISIS“) in the past twelve months. Gaziantep is a city close to the Syrian border and is considered one of the key “porous” border towns, where people and goods illegally sold […]

Court in Canada says despite notice of surveillance, violent offender has expectation of privacy over texts in public casino

Tweet Expectation of privacy In an odd decision out of Canada, a provincial level Supreme Court has ruled that a violent offender gambling at a public casino has an expectation of privacy when using his cellular phone to text despite the fact that gamblers are notified of being under surveillance when entering casinos. The decision […]

US-Canada drug enforcement plans to disrupt drug imports from British Columbia, scrutinize Bitcoin, MSBs and intercept more texts

Tweet US cross-border drug strategy to cover new ground in British Columbia Let’s Talk Bitcoin has an interesting article here on the US drug initiative to reduce the cross-border drug trade between Canada and the US with a focus on targeting the use of Bitcoin and other digital currencies for laundering proceeds of crime. The […]

Financier Worldwide Magazine – Infrastructure funding and corruption in Canada

Tweet Our article in Financier Worldwide, linked below, discusses the approval in Canada of the last tranche of $100 billion in infrastructure funding authorized on the unusual basis that it be used for corruption-free projects. The approval comes as Canada grapples with the fallout from the largest corruption case in the world and the first […]

2nd Annual ACAMS Conference in Toronto on Anti-Money Laundering

Tweet The ACAMS 2nd Annual AML & Financial Crime Conference Canada in Toronto on June 9-10, 2014 has an interesting and exciting list of speakers and topics. Highlights of this year’s program include: Corruption Presentation – Interpol’s Michel Girodo. Critical Guidance on Anti-Money Laundering Laws – Jamal El-Hindi, Associate Director, Policy Division, FinCEN. Anti-Bribery Update […]

Inquiry in Canada hears that P3 infrastructure hospital project is “biggest corruption fraud” in Canadian history

Tweet According to law enforcement testimony at Canada’s Charbonneau Commission heard last week, the $2 billion public-private partnership (“P3“) infrastructure project in Canada to build the McGill University Hospital Centre (“MUHC“) is the largest corruption fraud case in the history of Canada. It’s also the first money laundering P3 infrastructure case in Canada. In reality, […]

Canadian court dismisses charges against 3 jobless people over $24 million in unexplained cash

Tweet Here’s an interesting story about how a Court dismissed a $24 million money laundering case because, in the Court’s view, the evidence did not prove that three unemployed siblings who funneled millions of dollars in cash through a money services business in Vancouver were laundering proceeds of crime. Even though one of the siblings […]

1st Canadian official regulatory response to Bitcoin – securities commission issues alert against use of Bitcoin highlighting Ponzi risks

Tweet Securities regulator issues warning over bitcoin ATMs & threatens prosecution Canada issued its first official regulatory response to bitcoin today and it came from the Autorité des marchés financiers which issued an alert to consumers about the use of Bitcoin. The Autorité, which is Québec’s securities commission, said in a statement that it will […]