The US continued its take down of Bitcoin companies this week with the unsealing of an indictment against BTC-e and Alex Vinnik, and his arrest in Greece. The Indictment against Vinnik and BTC-e was obtained in January 2017, and was sealed until now so that he could be located internationally and arrangements made to effect [...]
For the first time ever, the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FINCEN“), has asserted jurisdiction over a foreign digital currency exchange, BTC-E, for the purposes of fines, and assessed civil penalties for anti-money laundering law failures under the Bank Secrecy Act in the amount of $110,003,314. In July of this year, BTC-E and its founder, [...]
The US DoJ has taken down what it calls the world’s largest criminal marketplace on the Internet called AlphaBay yesterday, which operated for over two years on the dark net. AlphaBay was over ten times larger than Silk Road when Silk Road was taken down in 2013. Like Silk Road, AlphaBay was used for trading of [...]
Two lead US government agents in Silk Road investigation arrested for allegedly stealing over $1 million of Bitcoin from Silk Road during the investigation Two former government agents involved in the Silk Road murder and extortion investigations in Baltimore, Carl Force and Shaun Bridges, were arrested and charged with corruption, money laundering, wire fraud and [...]
Are Bitcoin Exchanges MSBs? The Québec Government’s Authorité des Marchés Financiers (the “AMF“) today issued a News Release announcing that businesses that operate digital currency ATMs and “platforms for trading virtual currencies” must be licensed by the AMF as money services businesses (“MSB“) pursuant to the provincial Money Services Business Act (the “Act“). It also issued a [...]
US cross-border drug strategy to cover new ground in British Columbia Christine Duhaime, B.A., J.D., Financial Crime and Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist Follow @cduhaime 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 [...]
De-risking that results in unbankable businesses By Christine Duhaime, B.A., J.D., Financial Crime and Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist Follow @cduhaime In a speech delivered to the anti-money laundering legal and law enforcement community, the Director of FinCEN, Jennifer Shasky Calvery, made some interesting and compelling comments that touch on the economic costs of anti-money laundering (“AML“) law, [...]
New Bitcoin Law By Christine Duhaime, B.A., J.D., Financial Crime and Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist Follow @cduhaime At the end of this week, the Parliament of Canada approved what is likely the world’s first national Bitcoin law, and certainly the world’s first treatment in law of Bitcoin under national anti-money laundering law. Late Thursday, Canada’s Governor [...]
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 – [...]
We are participating in three exciting sessions on digital currencies (and Bitcoin) in Amsterdam this month for those interested in joining: At the Bitcoin Foundation Conference on May 16, 2014 on a panel discussing anti-money laundering chaired by Adam Shapiro, Director of Promontory Financial Group with: Dirk Haubrich, Head of Consumer Protection and Financial Innovation [...]