Teddy bears sales used for money laundering

Tweet The third executive of a Los Angeles toy company, Meichun Cheng Huang, pleaded guilty to conspiracy today as part of a black market peso exchange scheme that laundered almost US$9 million for drug cartels in Mexico and Columbia using teddy bears and Topo Gigio mouse dolls. Huang was a co-owner of the toy company, […]

Romanian pleads guilty to eBay cyberlaundering scam

Tweet A Romanian man has pleaded guilty for his role in a cyberlaundering scam that took in about US$2.7 million from users of online marketplaces such as eBay, Craigslist and AutoTrader. Adrian Ghighina, 33, of Bucharest, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, bank fraud and money laundering in U.S. District Court for the District of Illinois. Ghighina […]

Suspicious activity reports show increase in mortgage fraud in U.S.

Tweet 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 […]

Bank official convicted of disclosing suspicious activity report

Tweet A former bank official with the Chase Bank was convicted of disclosing the existence of a suspicious activity report to a bank customer. Frank Mendoza, who worked as a loss mitigation specialist for Chase Bank, conducted an investigation of a delinquent borrower on mortgage loans made in relation to seven properties in California. In […]

Ontario Court of Appeal upholds extradition of former refugee accused of terrorism and money laundering in U.S.

Tweet The Ontario Court of Appeal has upheld an order extraditing Suresh Sriskandarajah, also known as “Waterloo Suresh”, to the U.S. to face allegations of terrorist financing and money laundering. Sriskandarajah is a Sri Lankan former refugee who immigrated to Canada twenty years ago. He was arrested in 2006 as a result of a joint […]

FinCEN releases final rule on SAR confidentiality

Tweet FinCEN released its final rule regarding the confidentiality of suspicious activity reports and has determined that financial institutions must keep quiet about investigations of suspicious account activity, even when transactional reports are not required to be filed, the U.S. Treasury Department said Tuesday. The final rule, which takes effect in December, requires compliance departments […]

Law firm COO gets 10 year sentence for money laundering in Ponzi scheme

Tweet Debra Villegas, former chief operating officer of the now-defunct Fort Lauderdale law firm run by Scott Rothstein, was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 10 years and ordered to pay US$363 million in restitution today in Florida. Villegas forged signatures on fabricated legal settlements that were sold to wealthy investors. Earlier this year, […]

HSBC told to improve anti-money laundering controls

Tweet HSBC Bank USA, N.A. has been ordered to improve its compliance with U.S. anti-money laundering laws. Under a Consent Order entered into with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve, HSBC must correct anti-money laundering problems identified by the OCC and bring itself into compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) […]

Ontario court reserves judgement on extradition of suspected terrorist and money launderer

Tweet Suresh Sriskandarajah, also know as “Waterloo Suresh,” a Sri Lankan refugee to Canada being sought by the U.S. on terrorism and money laundering charges, is free on bail while the Ontario Court of Appeal decides whether to allow his appeal of a decision by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice granting an order committing […]