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 […]

US Treasury files civil claim against foreign Bitcoin exchange and its owner / officer to enforce penalties of $100M for AML failures

Tweet The US Attorney for the Northern District of California, on behalf of the US Treasury, has filed a civil complaint against the Bitcoin exchange known as BTC-e and one of its alleged owners / officers, Alexander Vinnik, to enforce over $100 million in monetary penalties for a series of anti-money laundering law violations. BTC-e […]

Owner of bank in the Dominican Republic sentenced to 3 years in jail for money laundering

Tweet The owner of a bank in the Dominican Republic, called Banco Peravia, was sentenced to a term of incarceration of 3 years, after pleading guilty in the US to money laundering using the bank, in the US. Gabriel Arturo Jimenez Aray, a Venezuelan citizen who lived in Chicago, acquired Banco Peravia in the Dominican […]

Backpage.com CEO & shareholders criminally charged with money laundering

Tweet CEO & Shareholders Charged The Attorney General of California announced today that her office has filed new criminal charges against the CEO of Backpage.com and two of its controlling shareholders, charging them with 26 counts of money laundering and 13 counts of pimping children out for prostitution in connection with the website Backpage.com. According […]

UN Chief charged in money laundering bribery scheme for allegedly accepting millions in cash from Chinese casino billionaire

Tweet Former UN President Charged The former United Nations (“UN”) President of the UN General Assembly, John Ashe, the UN Deputy Ambassador, Francis Lorenzo, a Chinese foreign national billionaire, Ng Lap Seng (also known as David Ng) and two of his associates were charged in New York with various offenses over an alleged bribery scheme. Two […]

Nigeria says US$150 billion stolen from state coffers in 10 years by politically exposed persons

Tweet Whopping $150 Billion Stolen from Nigeria in 10 Years Nigeria’s new President, Muhammadu Buhari, today said that the government believes that its officials have stolen approximately US$150 billion from the state in the past ten years.  In anti-money laundering law, high ranking government officials with access to state property and assets are politically exposed persons […]

FedEx charged with money laundering over alleged drug shipments

Tweet FedEx Corp. has been indicted over allegations of money laundering in connection with five shipments it made of alleged illegal prescription drugs from online pharmacies in which several persons are alleged to have died. According to ABC News, FedEx faces a $1.6 billion fine if found guilty. According to the indictment, online pharmacies sent […]

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 […]

Financial services firms and institutions expect 40% increase in regulatory compliance for FATCA and anti-money laundering

Tweet According to a 2013 Financial Crime survey, 2014 is expected to be an expensive one for regulatory compliance , with more than 20% more being spent for each of anti-money laundering compliance and compliance with the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA“), for a total of a 40% increase. Cybersecurity The financial crime […]

“The party is over” – Colombia takes action on tax evasion and imposes 33% surtax on “hit list” countries

Tweet Party is over says Colombia Minister of Finance The government of Colombia is imposing a 33% surtax on assets moved out of the country by its nationals to known tax havens. The surtax will be assessed against individuals and corporations to curb the exodus of funds out of Colombia. The government estimates that the […]