The US treasury department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on Friday published its first set of guidance materials to aid the public, and in particular the small business community, in understanding upcoming beneficial ownership information reporting requirements taking effect on 1 January 2024. Banks are amongst the 23 types of entities exempt from the reporting requirements that must be met by many corporations, limited liability companies, and other entities created in or registered to do business in the US to report information about their beneficial owners to FinCEN. Repor ..read more

Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse are among banks under investigation by the US justice department in a probe into whether bankers helped Russian oligarchs evade sanctions, Bloomberg reports, citing unnamed sources. Subpoenas were sent to individual bankers before the crisis that led to UBS’s deal to take over Credit Suisse, according to the news agency. Subpeonas for US bankers The investigation is focused on whether banks violated sanctions by doing business with individuals or entities already sanctioned by the US. The justice department has also reportedly sent subpoenas to staff at s ..read more

The American Bankers Association (ABA) is urging the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to make changes to the form that entities will use to report beneficial ownership information to the registry that FinCEN is creating to store this information. Financial institutions have so far not been provided the relief from the burdens of onboarding and customer due diligence they had hoped for as a result of the final version of the beneficial ownership rule issued in September by FinCEN according to the Thomson Reuters Institute and Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence (Trade-based Fin ..read more

The US is continuing its blitz of sanctions on third-country entities that Washington believes are helping sanctioned entities to continue doing business in global markets. The latest sanctioning of 39 entities in Hong Kong, Singapore, Turkey and the UAE relate to them allegedly forming a “shadow banking” network for sanctioned Iranian entities such as Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industry (PGPI) and Triliance Petrochemical to access the international financial system and obfuscate their trade with foreign customers. The move by the US treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) follows i ..read more

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is launching a multi-agency taskforce to target criminals who are laundering tens of millions of dollars in Australia every day to bankroll lavish lifestyles and further crime. Taskforce Avarus will target criminal syndicates involved in, amongst other things, trade-based money laundering (TBML) schemes using anything from low-value goods such as baby formula and vitamins to high-end goods such as jewellery and bullion to launder money. TBML focus The taskforce brings together the AFP, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and Australian Border Force a ..read more

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has published its updated guidance paper outlining tougher global beneficial ownership rules aimed at preventing criminals from hiding their illicit activities and money behind secret corporate structures. Beneficial Ownership of Legal Persons (Recommendation 24) aims to close loopholes and regulatory weaknesses that, in the FATF’s view, have for too long allowed fake companies be used as a cover for criminal activity or to hide wealth from tax authorities. Risk assessment and mitigation The rules set out to enable investigators to quickly and easily find ..read more

The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA) have launched a three-year support project to improve regional coherent and coordinated responses to illicit financial flows (IFFs). The project aims to ensure that policies and practices are mobilised to address financial crime, money laundering and tax avoidance to free up domestic revenue, particularly in Africa’s less developed countries. IFFs and asset recovery The US$5.9 million grant will support CoDA in its role as the secretariat of the AU High-Level Panel on IFFs, the Joint Secretariat of the Consorti ..read more

The alleged theft of US$1.5 million of chicken wings by a former director of food services of a school district in Chicago may be linked to a major money laundering ring that was apparently disabled four years ago. Vera Liddell is alleged to have stolen the wings over two years, beginning during the Covid-19 pandemic when schools were closed, albeit that families could pick up take-away meals from the kitchens. The alleged thefts were discovered during an audit that found that the Harvey School District was thousands of dollars over budget. But how and where the stolen chicken-wings were dispo ..read more

In one of its most significant sanctions actions to date, the US treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has designated over a dozen more Russian banks and financial institutions and announced a new determination targeting Russia’s metals and mining sector. It is also imposing sanctions on 22 individuals and 83 entities. Additionally, the US government is ramping up efforts to counter sanctions evasion around the world with the designation of over 30 third-country individuals and companies connected to Russia’s sanctions evasion efforts, including those related to arms trafficking a ..read more

An investigation into a US$30 million loan to South Sudanese oil marketing company, Trinity Energy, claims to have revealed red flags concerning trade-based money laundering (TBML), bribery and tax evasion. The loan from the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) was backed by senior government officials and enabled powerful individuals to benefit from the manipulation of business worth hundreds of millions of dollars, according a report by the investigative and policy organisation, The Sentry. Trade finance facility In April 2018, Trinity agreed a trade finance facility with Afreximbank for ..read more