Here’s an interesting story about how a Court dismissed a $24 million money laundering case because, in the Court’s view, the evidence did not prove that three unemployed siblings who funneled millions of dollars in cash through a money services business in Vancouver were laundering proceeds of crime. Even though one of the siblings suggested […]
The agenda is out for the upcoming 10th Annual National Symposium on Money Laundering in Toronto on April 4, 2014. The Symposium includes sessions on the following: Report from Gerald Cossette, Director of FINTRAC on Current Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Trends in Canada. Financial Institution Lessons Learned from US and Canada on Money Laundering […]
Federal government to regulate bitcoin and other digital currencies As was widely anticipated, the federal government announced today that it will amend federal legislation to require the regulation of digital currencies like bitcoin in order to eliminate the potential risks of digital currencies being used for terrorist financing and money laundering. Interestingly, the proposed legislation […]
Securities regulator issues warning over bitcoin ATMs & threatens prosecution Canada issued it’s first official regulatory response to bitcoin today and it came from the Autorité des marchés financiers which issued an alert to consumers about the use of bitcoin. The Autorité, which is Québec’s securities commission, said in a statement that it will prosecute […]
Money laundering conviction The US government announced that one of the co-founders of Liberty Reserve, Vladimir Kats, pleaded guilty to money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business yesterday. The US government found that Liberty Reserve was one of the world’s most popular virtual currency services. It’s co-founders were indicted in the U.S. in May […]
Response to FATF blacklisting Following years of pressure, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has implemented anti-money laundering legislation which took effect on Friday. The move was in response to the blacklisting of Vietnam  in June by the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF“) for  lax anti-money laundering (“AML“) and counter terrorist financing (“CTF“) controls. 14 countries […]
New Sanctions Against Iran The government of Canada today announced the imposition of new sanctions against Iran as a result of the lack of progress with the reduction of Iran’s nuclear program. Effective today, Canada banned all exports from and imports to Iran, and added more entities and individuals to the list of designated persons […]
The US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN“) has issued its interpretive guidance on the applicability of digital (or virtual) currencies, the most popular of which is Bitcoin, to the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA“). Pursuant to the Guidance, a person or entity that: (1) exchanges; or (2) administers digital currency or Bitcoin, is a money services […]