Financial crime trends in 2023

Tweet Predictions for 2023 in financial crime Where is financial crime heading? Where will enforcement be focused? With financial crime costs rising for law enforcement, investigations, compliance and reporting, and the number of predicate criminal offenses and sanctions lists increasing, the ability of financial crime sector organizations and governments to respond is shrinking. 2022 changed […]

Vancouver capital markets: amended SEC complaint reveals shady underground capital markets money laundering ecosystem

Tweet The biggest money laundering case in Canadian history, only it isn’t taking place in Canada The US Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filed a proposed amended complaint on February 3, 2022, in the US District Court of Massachusetts in case of SEC v. Frederick Sharp, Avtar Dhillon, Zhiying Chen, Courtney Kelln, Michael Veldhuis, Paul Sexton, Jackson […]

SEC files complaint against several Vancouver individuals for allegedly orchestrating US$1 billion in fraudulent sales of microcap stock

Tweet Foreign actors attacking US capital markets The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC“) has filed a complaint against several Vancouver individuals involved in the microcap space, calling them “foreign actors” and accusing them of attacking the US capital markets and US investors using various alleged securities fraud schemes. The SEC says that over US$1 billion […]

Offshore advisory firm that once advised Crocodile Dundee star pleads guilty to helping wealthy clients hide money in tax havens

Tweet Strachans SA Last month, Strachans SA, pleaded guilty in the US to hiding income and assets in offshore bank accounts, and in various corporate entities from tax authorities for its clients. Strachans SA was an accounting and financial services firm based in Jersey and Switzerland. In 2013, it became news-worthy when it and/or one […]

SEC locates pump & dump alleged mastermind in Ibiza who used a Vancouver lawyer for the alleged scheme

Tweet Biozoom boy found in Ibiza The alleged mastermind behind the alleged pump and dump securities fraud case involving Biozoom, Francisco Abellan Villena, has been located in Ibiza, the playground for billionaires. Villena is currently incarcerated in Ibiza, perhaps on an extradition warrant from the US. He was located by an investigator in Spain hired […]

US considering two anti-money laundering bills to force disclosure of shareholders of private companies

Tweet In what will be the most significant change to anti-money laundering law in the US since the Bank Secrecy Act, the US is considering two separate bills that, if passed, would require disclosure of the shareholders of private companies – the ILLICIT CASH Act and the Corporate Transparency Act, H.R. 2513. ILLICIT Cash Act […]

8 questions you may have had about the movie “The Laundromat” and yes, there are British Columbia connections

Tweet Part 1 – Background Skip this Part 1 if you know about Mossack Fonseca and shell and shelf companies. The movie The Laundromat is about lawyers and big law firms and the system that fuels offshore money movements, often involving the proceeds of crime. The movie is about a big law firm called Mossack Fonseca that […]

France & Spain go after Syrian PEP, the Butcher of Hama’s $1 billion in unexplained wealth

Tweet Rifaat al-Assad, the uncle of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, is facing permanent asset forfeiture in France in connection with unexplained wealth and asset accumulation in France. He was charged in France last month with corruption, money laundering and embezzlement of state assets from Syria. He was ordered to remain in France. He is a politically […]

US identifies Canada as major money laundering country, and notes concern over its low prosecution rate

Tweet Canada once again a Major Money Laundering country The 2019 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) published on Friday by the U.S. Department of State identifies Canada once again as a major money laundering country along with a host of risky countries for financial crime. A major money laundering country is one whose banks […]

In Canada, people associated with the Mafia and drug dealers are issued cannabis licences according to CBC News Report

Tweet According to a news story in French on CBC News, the government of Canada has issued licences to a cannabis company that has ties to the Mafia, and to major drug traffickers and Canada has also issued another licence to a cannabis company whose shareholders include major drug traffickers. The journalist in the story […]