Strengthening Compliance: Lessons From the OCC's Consent Order With Patriot Bank — Payments Pros – The Payments Law Podcast
Recent Developments in Anti-Money Laundering - The Consumer Finance Podcast
Investment Management Update – Exit Strategies
Public-private partnerships across the world between financial institutions, financial intelligence units and investigative authorities have laid the foundation to advance criminal investigations. However, there is further...more
The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has been very active in the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) / Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”) space, as reflected by a recent series of individual prosecutions and corporate non-prosecution agreements...more
Federal law enforcement takes money laundering and other suspicious transactions extremely seriously. Unfortunately, this does not mean that legal scrutiny is confined to the criminal actors and organizations that launder...more
The legal saga involving the civil and criminal cases against the entity and former individual owners of the Bitcoin Mercantile Exchange, or BitMEX—a large and well-known online trading platform dealing in futures contracts...more
On February 24, 2022, two of three founders of an off-shore cryptocurrency derivatives exchange, the Bitcoin Mercantile Exchange or “BitMEX,” pled guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) by failing to maintain an...more
1. AML Laws - Federal anti-money laundering (“AML”) laws are complex in nature and apply to a broad category of institutions and businesses. One of the most important AML laws is the Bank Secrecy Act, which obligates...more
Government Suggests that Unusual Pleas are Just the Tip of an Iceberg - Chinese law generally prohibits its citizens from converting more than $50,000 in Chinese yuan into foreign currency in a year. On Monday, two men...more
Note to Government Personnel: Don’t Disclose SARs - This week, major developments unfolded in the cases against two former federal government employees for their respective roles in disclosing Suspicious Activity Reports...more
In recent months, support for Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering ("BSA/AML") reform has gained momentum in the US Congress as more than 20 pieces of reform-related legislation circulate the financial services committees....more
In a stark message, Justice Department prosecutors have brought the first criminal case for anti-money laundering violations against a broker-dealer. ...more
ON OCTOBER 2, 2012, kidnappers robbed and abducted a marijuana dispensary owner from his Newport Beach home. They then drove him to the Mojave Desert where they tortured him and demanded that he reveal where he had buried his...more
Since 1996, when California became the first state to legalize marijuana (at the time, for medicinal purposes only), 28 additional states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana to some extent. Public support...more
The United States Supreme Court made clear that, to take advantage of a key anti-retaliation protection of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, an employee whistleblower must identify potential...more
Attorney General Sessions Announces Rescission of Obama Administration Policies on Marijuana Enforcement; Financial Institutions Lose Grounds to Permit Financial Transactions with Marijuana Businesses....more
The Department of Justice announced criminal FCPA charges against two individuals in connection with bribery payments to foreign officials in Chad and Uganda. The Justice Department’s announcement occurred on the heels of...more
In the first several months of 2017, we have seen significant anti-money laundering settlements and penalties in the money transmitting business arising from lax compliance programs, including the record-setting Western Union...more
CFTC Inspector General Strongly Criticizes Cost-Benefit Analysis Underlying Commission’s Rule Establishing Margin for Uncleared Swaps: The Office of Inspector General of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said that the...more
Clearing Firm’s Failure to File Suspicious Activity Reports in Response to Red Flags Charged as Violation of FINRA Requirements: Electronic Transaction Clearing, Inc., a registered broker-dealer, was charged by the Financial...more
Former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Dennis Hastert entered the well of a courtroom in the Northern District of Illinois earlier this week to enter a plea of not guilty to charges that he structured...more