Tweet 1. Canada once again a “Major Money Laundering” country The 2017 “International Narcotics Control Strategy Report” (INCSR) published in March 2017 by the U.S. Department of State identifies Canada once again as a “major money laundering country†along with a host of mostly risky countries for financial crime such as Afghanistan, Argentina, Brazil, BVI, Cayman […]
Tweet The Securities Exchange Commission has denied an application for the creation of a Bitcoin Trust based primarily on issues related to preservation of the integrity of the capital markets. The decision is what was expected from a financial crime and integrity perspective. The decision can be read here. The gist of the negative findings […]
Tweet CEO & Shareholders Charged The Attorney General of California announced today that her office has filed new criminal charges against the CEO of Backpage.com and two of its controlling shareholders, charging them with 26 counts of money laundering and 13 counts of pimping children out for prostitution in connection with the website Backpage.com. According […]
Tweet In an opinion released on October 12, 2016, for the European Parliament, the European Central Bank has made some interesting pronouncements about the financial crime risks arising from the use of digital currencies and Blockchain and distributed ledger technology. The EU is considering a new directive to mitigate against money laundering and terrorist financing […]
Tweet Europol released its 2016 Internet Organized Crime Threat Assessment Report on cybercrime today and the results are more disturbing than last year’s report. The Report can be accessed here. Generally, the Report findings were that the volume and scope of cybercrime has reached very high levels and now surpasses regular non-online crimes. The Report […]
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 Two  US government agents in Silk Road investigation arrested for allegedly stealing over $1 million of Bitcoin from Silk Road during the investigation Two former government agents involved in the Silk Road murder and extortion investigations in Baltimore, Carl Force and Shaun Bridges, were arrested and charged with corruption, money laundering, wire fraud and […]
Tweet Bitcoin hits the news related to ISIS There were two Bitcoin stories today in the US media with an ISIS connection, raising alarm bells regarding the potential use of digital currencies for terrorist financing. The first story was that a teenager in Virginia had been arrested by the FBI for allegedly facilitating a person […]
Tweet In a report released yesterday on serious organized crime called “Exploring Tomorrow’s Organized Crime” (the “Report“), Europol found that organized crime is now becoming a virtual activity over the Internet and as a result, transnational criminal organizations (“TCO“) are migrating towards virtual payment methods to conduct commercial affairs, including digital payments. According to Europol, […]
Tweet Are Bitcoin Exchanges MSBs? The Québec Government’s Authorité des Marchés Financiers (the “AMF“) today issued a News Release announcing that businesses that operate digital currency ATMs and “platforms for trading virtual currencies” must be licensed by the AMF as money services businesses (“MSB“) pursuant to the provincial Money Services Business Act (the “Act“). It also issued […]