Does it matter if a law is valid if the Government refuses to enforce it? For months, we have watched (and blogged on) courts grappling with the constitutionality and enforceability of the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”)....more
The Fifth Circuit has granted the government’s request to stay temporarily the order and injunction issued by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, which had issued a nationwide stay prohibiting...more
12/24/2024
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Beneficial Owner ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Corruption ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
Financial Crimes ,
FinCEN ,
National Security ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Stays
As we previously blogged, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Center (“FinCEN”) published Anti-Money Laundering Regulations for Residential Real Estate Transfers (“Final Rule”) regarding residential real estate. The Final Rule,...more
11/18/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Beneficial Owner ,
Comment Period ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
GTO ,
Money Laundering ,
Proposed Rules ,
Real Estate Investments ,
Real Estate Transactions ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Reporting Requirements
In the possible final stage of the Alpine Securities saga, Judge Clark Waddopous of the United States District Court for the District of Utah issued an opinion granting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) motion...more
11/15/2024
/ Amended Complaints ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Article III ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Broker-Dealer ,
BSA/AML ,
Money Laundering ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
SAR ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Transactions ,
Standing
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) has published a two-page reference guide (“Guide”) comparing the requirements for reporting beneficial ownership information (“BOI”) to FinCEN under the Corporate...more
8/5/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Beneficial Owner ,
BSA/AML ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
In this post, we will once again consider the issue of the utility of Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) filings to the global anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) compliance regime....more
7/29/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
Risk Assessment ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations
Yesterday we were very pleased to welcome guest blogger, Don Fort, who is the Director of Investigations at Kostelanetz LLP, and the past Chief of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation (CI) Division....more
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) has issued its Year in Review for FY 2023 (“YIR”). It consists of five pages of infographics. According to FinCEN’s press release...more
6/11/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Currency Transaction Reports (CTR) ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Information Sharing ,
Money Laundering ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
On April 18, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued a draft version of Form 1099-DA, a proposed information reporting form regarding certain digital asset sales and exchanges that “digital asset brokers” will need to...more
4/24/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Wallets ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Know Your Customers ,
Reporting Requirements
Years in the making, on February 13, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (“NPRM”) to include “investment adviser” (“IA”) within the definition of “financial institution”...more
3/6/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Beneficial Owner ,
BSA/AML ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
Customer Identification Program (CIP) ,
FinCEN ,
Investment Adviser ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
NPRM ,
Proposed Rules ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
As the world now knows, Binance Holdings Limited, doing business as Binance.com (“Binance” or the “Company”), has entered into a plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”)....more
11/27/2023
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
CFTC ,
Consent Order ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FinCEN ,
Guilty Pleas ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
Money Laundering ,
Money Services Business ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Plea Agreements ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the “Court”) has issued a detailed and complicated Order in the case Banco San Juan Internacional, Inc. v. Fed. Reserve Bank of New York, denying a...more
11/17/2023
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Declaratory Judgments ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Due Process ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Money Laundering ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Puerto Rico ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
On October 23, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (“NPRM”) entitled Proposal of Special Measure Regarding Convertible Virtual Currency Mixing, as a Class of...more
11/1/2023
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Convertible Virtual Currencies (CVCs) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
NPRM ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Virtual Currency
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) has issued a flurry of publications relating to the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”). They pertain, in part, to a proposed extension of the filing deadline for certain...more
10/2/2023
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Beneficial Owner ,
Comment Period ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
FinCEN ,
National Security ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) has published a Small Entity Compliance Guide (the “Guide”) for beneficial ownership information (“BOI”) reporting under the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”), as well as...more
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) has issued a notice entitled “FinCEN Calls Attention to Payroll Tax Evasion and Workers’ Compensation Fraud in the Construction Sector” (the “Notice”). According to the...more
8/17/2023
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Construction Industry ,
Currency Transaction Reports (CTR) ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Fraud ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Payroll Taxes ,
Popular ,
Tax Evasion ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workers' Compensation Claim
As we have blogged repeatedly, there is a close nexus between money laundering and tax crimes. The frequent connection between the two sets of offenses – and the potentially related methods of combatting them – is a topic...more
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) announced on October 11 simultaneous settlements with Bittrex, Inc. (“Bittrex”), a virtual currency exchange and hosted...more
The Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) recently issued an updated review of the implementation of its anti-money laundering (“AML”) and counter-terrorist financing (“CFT”) standards to financial activities involving Virtual...more
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) recently issued a public version of a more detailed and confidential report previously sent to Congress summarizing the GAO’s review of the use of virtual currencies to...more
As we initially blogged, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued on December 7 a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) regarding the beneficial ownership (“BO”) reporting requirements of the Corporate...more