Tweet In another first for bitcoin, the Miami Beach Police today arrested two men for alleged money laundering involving bitcoin. And one of them is Canadian. According to police, undercover officers and special agents from the Miami Electronic Crimes Task Force posed as bitcoins buyers and contacted various bitcoin sellers on the website “localbitcoins.com” specifically […]
Tweet One of Bitcoin’s earliest enthusiasts, Charlie Shrem who ran BitInstant, a New York based Bitcoin exchange, was arrested today and charged with money laundering conspiracy, operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and failure to file suspicious activity reports to FinCEN. The complaint was filed by U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, […]
Tweet The Office of Foreign Asset Control (“OFAC“) has assessed a penalty of $1.5 million against Alma Investment LLC, a foreign investment firm and fund, for violating U.S. sanctions by sending electronic wires totaling $103,283 through U.S. financial institutions for the benefit of persons in Iran. The electronic wires are a prohibited export to Iran […]
Tweet Terrorists will target critical infrastructure Study after study makes one thing clear – the West remains ill-prepared to defend against a terrorist attack to critical infrastructure. That makes it obviously vulnerable, but it also exposes government agencies and the private sector (who own or manage upwards of 80% of critical infrastructure in some areas), […]
Tweet The U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ“) announced that it has resolved its money laundering investigation into the Las Vegas Sands Corp. pursuant to which Sands will pay US$47 million to avoid criminal prosecution in connection with funds gambled by high rollers at its Venetian casino in Las Vegas. The DOJ was investigating Sands for failure to […]
Tweet HSBC Cancels Bank Accounts of Consulates HSBC has given notice to several consulates and the Vatican that it is closing their accounts within 60 days. No reason has been officially cited for the cancellation of the client bank agreements but it is likely as a result of the exposure such accounts hold for financial […]
Tweet Mafia funds must be frozen The U.S. Department of the Treasury today added several members of the Camorra mafia to its Specially Designated Nationals List (“SDNL“). As a result of the designation to the SDNL, all property (money, securities, and other property) of the designated Camorra in the U.S. or in the possession or […]
Tweet $5.2 million settlement American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (“Amex“) has entered into a settlement agreement to pay US$5.2 million to settle potential civil liability for apparent violations of the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, 31 C.F.R. §§515.201(b)(2) (“CACR“). The CACR broadly prohibit trade and investment with Cuba by any person subject to the jurisdiction of […]
Tweet An Interpol-led investigation into the trade of counterfeit goods and products over the last two months has resulted in the arrests of more than 6,000 people in Vietnam, China, Belarus, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Turkey, Namibia, Hong Kong, India, Thailand, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Peru and Ecuador. In total, 24 million fake goods were seized worth […]
Tweet Singapore’s Monetary Authority of Singapore has issued a number of fines, warnings, reprimands and compliance orders to 69 financial institutions for multiple failures to comply with anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing requirements. The move is Singapore’s effort to appear to be strengthening its anti-money laundering laws to preserve its reputation as the hub […]