12th August 2019

Mexico Considers Banning Cash for Gasoline Purchases, Highway Tolls

Mexico is considering a ban on the use of cash for purchasing gasoline and to pay for tolls as a way to fight tax evasion and money laundering, according to people with direct knowledge of the discussions. The plan, which has been discussed between the banking industry and the government,… Read More

12th August 2019

These idyllic Caribbean islands are trading illegal Venezuelan gold. Can it be stopped?

It was a typically hot Saturday afternoon in Aruba when Rafael González Zambrano thought he had completed a routine operation, one he had been doing for about seven years already. After declaring the goods he was carrying, the Venezuelan-born man with a Dutch passport was escorted to his plane by… Read More

9th August 2019

JPMorgan Retained Epstein Accounts Years After Compliance Raised Concerns: NYT

Following the discovery of Bernard Madoff’s multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme in late 2008, US Treasury Department officials ordered the hedge fund manager’s primary bank, JPMorgan Chase, to determine whether any other clients were violating laws or regulations. Compliance officers in JPMorgan’s private banking arm subsequently launched a review of… Read More

9th August 2019

Uruguay: The new global drug trafficking hub

Lacking resources and organization, authorities in Uruguay are struggling to combat global drug trafficking. The country has become an increasingly important hub for drug smugglers as a result. “Uruguay is not looking too good in this matter,” Enrique Canon, head of Uruguay’s top customs authority, said after the recent discovery… Read More

8th August 2019

Brazil police make new move against organized crime gang’s finance arm

Brazilian police on Tuesday carried out a major operation against the First Capital Command (PCC) gang, in the latest attempt to try to hobble the country’s most powerful and sophisticated organized crime group. Brazil’s federal police said in a statement it had executed 30 arrest warrants, with 180 officers taking… Read More

7th August 2019

Standard Chartered Trains Tellers to Help Fight Wildlife Crime

Poachers beware: Standard Chartered Plc is coming for you and is urging other banks to do the same. The lender is training bank-branch tellers to spot transactions that could be linked to the illegal wildlife trade and has made them a focus for its financial-crime investigators, said Kweku Bedu-Addo,… Read More

7th August 2019

Dating site users are being tricked into laundering money, FBI says

The FBI has put out a warning on “confidence/romance frauds” across online dating sites. Cybercriminals are tricking people into laundering and sending money, purchasing items and providing personal and financial information, the FBI said Monday, by posing as a… Read More

6th August 2019

Crown investment companies were used to launder drug funds, authorities believe

Drug traffickers have used two private companies which were set up by Crown Resorts with Crown executives as directors to bank suspected proceeds of crime, federal investigations have alleged. Investigators traced money from a number of suspected or convicted drug traffickers and money launderers flowing into the bank accounts of… Read More

6th August 2019

Tanzania charges journalist, rights groups say case politically motivated

An investigative journalist in Tanzania has been charged with money laundering, tax evasion and assisting a criminal racket, according to a court document seen by Reuters, charges his lawyer and rights groups said were politically motivated. Rights groups say press freedom in Tanzania has drastically deteriorated since the election in… Read More

5th August 2019

U.S. Imposes More Sanctions on Russia for Chemical Agent Use

The U.S. imposed a second round of sanctions on Russia for using a banned nerve agent in an attempt to kill a former Russian spy in the U.K. in 2018. The measures will prohibit U.S. banks from participating in the issuance of Russian sovereign debt, the State Department and Treasury… Read More