On March 13, 2025, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, which aims to establish a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins, passed the United States Committee on Banking,...more
Recent developments in the world of crypto have come at a rapid pace to open 2025 not only signaling but, in some instances, explicitly declaring the Trump Administration’s intent to significantly relax or eliminate...more
3/10/2025
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Orders ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
FinCEN ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Trump Administration
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
Developments concerning the enforceability and enforcement of the CTA came at a rapid clip last week. As things stand, the government may enforce the CTA pending a Texas court appeal in Smith v. U.S. Department of the...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
Following up on its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPR”), which we discussed back in March, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released on August 28th a final rule extending Anti-Money Laundering/Countering...more
9/13/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Investment Adviser ,
Money Laundering ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Assessment ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
FinCEN’s recent preliminary rulemaking aims to enhance and modernize regulations with requirements and priorities that affect a broad range of “financial institutions” across industries—but lacks concrete guidance on...more
7/26/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Chevron Deference ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Risk Assessment ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations
On May 13th, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a joint notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would require SEC-registered investment advisers (RIAs) and...more
5/29/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Customer Identification Program (CIP) ,
Exempt Reporting Advisers (ERAs) ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Investment Adviser ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
NPRM ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
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)
After reviewing how the AMLA expands the BSA’s goals, we look at which AMLA provisions have the most impact on BSA compliance, including the AMLA’s emphasis on information sharing, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s...more
Summary -
On September 30, 2022, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a unit of the U.S. Department of Treasury, issued its final rule, Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting Requirements (Final Rule),...more
Second Post in a Two-Post Series on the CTA Implementing Regulations -
As we just blogged, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) has issued a final rule (“Final Rule”) regarding the beneficial ownership...more
First Post in a Two-Post Series on the CTA Implementing Regulations -
On September 30, 2022, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued its final rule, Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting...more
Questions of which, if any, regulatory regimes apply to the variety of participants in the cryptocurrency market continue to dog the industry. On February 28, 2022, whether a cryptocurrency futures trading platform...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
Yesterday, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) regarding the beneficial ownership reporting requirements of the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”), which...more
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) recently complied with two important deadlines under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (“AML Act”) — issuing national priorities for AML and countering the financing of...more
The Small Business Administration (“SBA”) recently issued a procedural notice (the “Notice”) to “All SBA Employees and Paycheck Protection Program Lenders” setting forth “Revised SBA Paycheck Protection Platform Procedures...more
With the third round of lending through the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) in full swing, the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) – administrator of the PPP – has developed new guidance in consultation with the United...more
First Blog Post in an Extended Series on Legislative Changes to BSA/AML Regulatory Regime -
Change is upon us. The U.S. House and Senate have passed – over a Presidential veto – the National Defense Authorization Act...more
On December 10, 2020, Kenneth Blanco, Director of FinCEN, issued public comments at the American Bankers Association/American Bar Association Financial Crimes Enforcement Conference announcing new FinCEN guidance for covered...more
Second Post in a Three-Post Series Regarding Recent Regulatory Action by FinCEN -
On September 16, 2020, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“ANPRM”)...more
Can BSA/AML Requirements Lead to Deemed Knowledge of Borrower Fraud?
The first two weeks of August brought a milestone of sorts in the ongoing recovery from the economic downturn brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The...more
9/3/2020
/ Beneficial Owner ,
Borrowers ,
BSA/AML ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Housing Administration (FHA) ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Agencies ,
FinCEN ,
Fraud ,
Government Investigations ,
HUD ,
Lenders ,
Loan Forgiveness ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
SBA ,
U.S. Treasury
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) just issued another Advisory pertaining to two consumer fraud schemes exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. ...more