Today, the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) released its long anticipated revised set of standards for anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorist financing (CTF) which replace the 40 Recommendations + 9 Special Recommendations compiled in 2003. The revised FATF Recommendations integrate AML and CTF controls into one document and are quite expansive in that they [...]
The Canadian government announced that it is undertaking a potentially significant revision to its anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorist financing (CTF) regime. The proposed changes are in addition to those proposed by the government in November 2011. In its Consultation Paper entitled “Strengthening Canada’s Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Regime”, the government is proposing [...]
On November 7, 2011, the Department of Finance released a consultation paper on proposed amendments to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Regulations (the “Regulations”). The proposed amendments are significant because they expand the circumstances in which client identification is required and expand the reporting requirements for reporting entities. Most reporting entities in [...]
Spanish lawyer Fernando del Valle, whom we wrote about here, was convicted of money laundering and sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to pay €3.4 million in fines. Authorities believe del Valle laundered up to €250 million through his law firm in Spain’s exclusive Marbella region. The case was one of the largest [...]
Money laundering suspicious activity reports (SARs) filed with FinCEN, the U.S. financial intelligence unit, show a slight increase in mortgage fraud in the U.S. According to FinCEN’s third quarter 2010 mortgage report, “Mortgage Loan Fraud SAR Filings“, 9% of all SARs filed in the 2010 third quarter indicated mortgage loan fraud as a suspected activity, an [...]
Organized crime has infiltrated every level of the construction industry in Québec, according to Yves Mercure, the head of the construction wing of the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec. During an interview with Radio-Canada in Montréal, Mr. Mercure said that organized crime has infiltrated most major construction companies in Québec and the construction [...]
On September 30, 2010 one of the landmark abuse of dominance cases in Canada was settled after approximately four years of investigation by the federal Competition Bureau and negotiations with The Canadian Real Estate Association (“CREA”), one of the largest single industry trade associations in Canada. The Consent Agreement entered into between the Competition Bureau (the [...]
Two mortgage brokers and a real estate appraiser were indicted this week in St. Paul, Minnesota, on charges of mortgage fraud conspiracy and wire fraud in connection with an alleged fraud scheme that induced lenders to lend more than US$1 million to home and condo buyers at inflated prices. One of the mortgage brokers was [...]
The U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is proposing a new rule that would require non-bank residential mortgage lenders (e.g. independent mortgage loan companies and mortgage brokers) in the U.S. to comply with the suspicious activity reporting requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act. The new rule closes a regulatory gap in the reporting requirements. Residential mortgage [...]
An Iowa real estate broker charged with money laundering, bank fraud, identity theft and mail theft is facing 476 years in a U.S. federal prison if convicted. According to an indictment filed in Sioux City, Jean Hoffert is alleged to have diverted millions of dollars ear-marked for client mortgage payments to her bank accounts and [...]