News

2nd July 2020

ECB withdraws Malta-based bank’s licence

A Malta-based bank, Satabank, has had its licence withdrawn by the European Central Bank, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna and the Malta Financial Services Authority said on Wednesday. The decision was taken on the recommendation of the authority. The Bulgarian-owned bank, established in 2014, had its 12,000 accounts frozen by the… Read More

2nd July 2020

Vatican police raid Basilica offices in corruption probe

Vatican police on Tuesday raided the office that manages St. Peter’s Basilica, seizing documents and electronic equipment as part of an investigation into possible corruption in procurement practices. The extraordinary raid comes a month after the Vatican published new procurement rules intended to prevent corruption and cut costs. The Holy… Read More

2nd July 2020

Bank fraud allegations test marijuana business

On March 9, a German businessman named Ruben Weigand was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport, during a layover on his way to Costa Rica. In an indictment unsealed later that week, federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged Mr. Weigand with a single count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, stemming… Read More

2nd July 2020

Goldman nears 1MDB resolution with effort to avoid guilty plea

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is in the final stages of resolving its biggest legal threat in a decade after tussling with the government on one critical issue: a potential guilty plea for the first time in Goldman’s history. To avert such a penalty over its work for a Malaysian sovereign… Read More

2nd July 2020

Turkey’s Halkbank to seek removal of U.S. judge in Iran sanctions case

Halkbank will ask the U.S. judge overseeing a criminal case accusing it of helping Iran evade American sanctions to recuse himself, a lawyer for the Turkish bank said on Tuesday. The lawyer, Robert Cary, notified U.S. District Judge Richard Berman of Halkbank’s intention at a hearing, without providing a reason. Read More

2nd July 2020

Wanted for graft, ex-Pemex boss to be extradited to Mexico from Spain

The former chief executive of Mexican state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, Emilio Lozoya, has agreed to be extradited from Spain to Mexico to stand trial on corruption charges, Mexican Attorney General Alejandro Gertz said on Tuesday. Lozoya, 45, who was once a close confidant of former President Enrique Peña Nieto,… Read More

2nd July 2020

FATF Seeks Input on Proliferation Financing, Discloses New Priorities

The global watchdog against money laundering and terrorist financing is seeking input on how to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction as Germany assumes its two-year presidency of the organization. In an announcement following the final plenary meeting under Chinese President Xiangmin Liu, the Financial Action Task… Read More

1st July 2020

Moldova shuts down bootleg helicopter factory

The Moldovan Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organised Crime and Special Cases and investigators from the Police General Inspectorate closed a clandestine factory in the Criuleni area near the Dniester river in the east of the country on Tuesday that was producing copies of Kamov KA-26 Soviet-type helicopters. “Over the past… Read More

1st July 2020

Wirecard ‘link to cash laundering’ in UK

Senior Wirecard employees were linked to an opaque network of British companies associated with alleged money laundering. Staff from the scandal-hit German payment processor were shareholders in a company creation operation in the northeast of England that was shut down after a government investigation. The revelations will increase scrutiny of… Read More

1st July 2020

Banks Face Increasing Compliance Risks, OCC Says

The coronavirus pandemic has forced some financial institutions to reduce staff or reassign personnel at a time when applications for government relief programs are flooding in, heightening banks’ compliance risks, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said. The OCC, which supervises and regulates banks and savings associations, said… Read More