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 […]

FinCEN assesses US$60 million penalty against owner of Bitcoin mixer / tumbler service

Tweet US$60 million penalty On October 19, 2020, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN“) assessed a US$60 million penalty (here) against Larry Dean Harmon, the owner of two Bitcoin mixing and anonymizing services called Helix and Coin Ninja LLC. FinCEN found that the two entities were operating as unregistered money services businesses (“MSB“) which exchanged […]

SEC suspends trading temporarily of pubco, with ties to Canada, selling a virus killing mask for covid-19

Tweet The US Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC“) temporarily halted the trading of shares of an issuer called Bioelife Corp. over concerns about the accuracy of its claims, and claims of stock promoters, that it has developed coronavirus protective products, and over potentially manipulative trading activity. Bioelife is a shell, according to its website. It […]

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 […]

P3 infrastructure criminal charges in Canada against a politically exposed person

Tweet The RCMP has charged a former head of a Crown corporation, Michel Fournier, and his wife, Judith Fournier, both resident in Victoria, with money laundering in connection with alleged corruption from kickbacks they allegedly received tied to a $127 million contract to renovate the Jacques Cartier Bridge. Fournier had a secret bank account in […]

US amends anti-money laundering law for beneficial ownership after Panama Papers, including to detect purchases of expensive real estate with illicit money

Tweet Panama Papers Driven Changes The US Treasury has announced several amendments, and proposed legislative amendments, to its anti-money laundering (“AML“) legislation in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal to tackle the disclosure of what is called “beneficial ownership.” Beneficial ownership means the beneficial, as opposed to the legal, owner of shares of a […]

Primer on Beneficial Ownership, Numbered, Shelf and Shell Companies

Tweet Beneficial ownership, shell companies, shelf companies and numbered companies – What’s the Difference? Since the Panama Papers, there seems to be an increasing interest in the concepts of beneficial ownership, numbered companies, shell companies and shelf companies and people often use some of these terms interchangeably but they are not the same things. 1. […]

American Banker – Why banks should be concerned about hackers taking on counter terrorist financing

Tweet In case you missed it, our article in American Banker‘s Bank Think entitled “We Shouldn’t Be Relying on Hackers to Stop Terrorism Financing” can be read here. The article discusses the recent phenomena of hackers in #OpISIS taking down the websites of the Islamic State and their stated promise to go after banks engaged […]

UK issues guidance for MSBs imposing personal liability on directors / officers for terrorist financing and money laundering compliance failures

Tweet Unlimited monetary fines at stake for compliance failures The UK HM Revenue and Customs (“HMRC“) has issued revised guidance (the “Guidance“) for money services businesses (“MSBs“) that renders directors, officers, partners, managers, secretaries and members of the management committee of a MSB personally liable for money laundering and terrorist financing compliance failures. On conviction, directors and […]