Financial Crime

9th November 2020

Julius Baer to pay nearly $80 million in FIFA corruption case

Julius Baer has made an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) to settle allegations over its role in corruption surrounding global soccer body FIFA, the bank said on Monday. The bank has taken a provision of $79.7 million to cover expected fines after agreeing in principal to a… Read More

5th November 2020

SEC whistle-blower gets $28 million in another huge 2020 payout

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission paid $28 million to a whistle-blower who provided information that led to a successful enforcement action, adding to the eye-popping awards that tipsters have received from the agency this year. “In the past month alone, the commission has awarded four whistle-blowers over $150… Read More

5th November 2020

CFTC to offer lower fines to offenders that cooperate

The U.S. derivatives watchdog is planning to offer rewards to companies that turn themselves in, following in the footsteps of other regulators and law-enforcement agencies. The Commodity Futures and Trading Commission is expected to release guidance Thursday spelling out how companies that self-report potential misconduct, cooperate with investigators and take… Read More

27th October 2020

U.S. Banks Navigate Hazy Regulations to Serve Cannabis Businesses

Many financial institutions looking to offer banking services to the expanding number of legal cannabis growers and distributors in the U.S. are still limited by spotty regulations and expensive compliance efforts. The disparities between federal and state laws governing the use of marijuana and hemp, and the differences across states,… Read More

23rd October 2020

Lawyers, accountants and real estate agents should report suspicious activity: AUSTRAC boss

The head of the financial crimes watchdog says she is concerned lawyers and real estate agents are being used for money laundering, as the government considers whether to impose tough new reporting obligations on them. Austrac chief executive Nicole Rose said the decision on whether to bring lawyers, accountants and… Read More

20th October 2020

The AML System: A Failure of Statecraft?

Consider the current state of anti-money laundering efforts across the globe. Around 2% of global GDP is laundered annually, amounting to between $800B – $2T. Banks spend around $8B annually fighting it but affect only 0.1% of criminal finance. What we know then is that the ROI of… Read More

19th October 2020

The day the international tax authorities came knocking

On a sunny Friday in late January, investigators from the Australian Tax Office issued subpoenas and fired off letters as part of an unprecedented probe that reached around the world. It was a similar scene in Amsterdam, where investigators from the Dutch tax agency set about a similar task. So,… Read More

16th October 2020

FinCEN Files: Banks Flagged Felix Sater for $100 Million In Suspicious Activity

By Anthony Cormier, Jason Leopold, John Templon, Scott Pham, Jeremy Singer-Vine, Richard Holmes and Tom Warren, BuzzFeed News, 15 October 2020 BuzzFeed News — Long before he emerged as one of the central figures in then–special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of President Donald Trump and Russia’s interference in the 2016… Read More

15th October 2020

Woman close to Vatican cardinal arrested in corruption probe

AP — The Vatican’s latest corruption scandal already had all the elements of a spy thriller: One cardinal who was fired during a “surreal” nighttime audience with the pope. Another cardinal, the nemesis of the first, who returned triumphantly to Rome after being acquitted of sexual abuse in Australia. And… Read More

15th October 2020

The fastest way to send criminal cash: money transmitters

By Will Fitzgibbon and Mago Torres, ICIJ, 13 October 2020 ICIJ — No, this former vice president cannot have his seven planes back. In May, the International Criminal Court ruled that Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, former vice president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, will not be compensated for spending… Read More