Tweet The FBI announced today that it has launched a program with resources to target and investigate criminally, lawyers and accountants who help money launderers launder proceeds of crime by providing services to them. There have been lawyers who have been indicted and some convicted who have helped money launderers in a multitude of ways, […]
Tweet In a not-often cited decision from 2011, the Federal Court of Canada upheld a decision of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada denying a foreign national refugee protection in Canada for serious criminality based on money laundering charges even though the foreign national was never convicted of money laundering. The facts of the […]
Tweet 1. Canada a Major Money Laundering Country The 2016 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (“INCSR“) published in March 2016 by the U.S. Department of State identifies Canada as a “major money laundering country†along with, among others, Afghanistan, Brazil, BVI, Cayman Islands, Cambodia, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Guernsey, Jersey, Hong Kong, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mexico, Macau […]
Tweet Canada get 25% compliance grade from FATF FATF notes the concern of proceeds of crime coming into real estate in Vancouver from China The FATF Mutual Evaluation of Canada was released today and according to the Report, Canada achieved a grade of 25% compliance with international anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing standards. Out of […]
Tweet The G20 agrees to cooperate over asset recovery and tracking down wanted foreign nationals implicated in financial crimes The G20 released its statement on September 5, 2016, and a large part of it indicates that the leaders of the world are becoming concerned with financial crime, including money laundering, terrorist financing and tax evasion. […]
Tweet More scrutiny in US for real estate The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced that it is expanding its program to identify persons who may be hiding assets in residential properties in the US. The expansion adds additional cities to what are called the area for Geographic Targeting Orders (GTO). Title insurance agents in GTO […]
Tweet On June 16, 2016, the Director of the CIA testified before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in respect of the Islamic State (ISIS), terrorism and technology generally. Here is an executive summary: The CIA said there there has never been a time when there is such a “dizzying” array of national security issues […]
Tweet The Financial Conduct Authority released an interesting soft study on the incidents of derisking affecting companies in the UK and pursuant to the study, MSB, charities and FinTechs are the three business client groups whose bank accounts are most frequently closed because they are too risky for the bank (a practice known as derisking). […]
Tweet A $200 million a year business and growing The EU – Turkey deal to close the borders of the EU to refugees and migrants has shifted the human smuggling routes back to Libya. The focus back to Libya means ISIS’ large source of terrorist financing from this activity is flowing again, which may also […]
Tweet Financial regulators balance innovation and protection Financial regulators serve two important functions for the financial system. 1. They support growth and innovation where it could improve access to finance, or the delivery of financial services or grow the economy. 2. At the same time,  they  protect consumers and society at large by supervising the financial […]