In ISIS Beatles case, UK Appeal Court rules that complying with some US MLATs to hand over evidence in an investigation is unlawful; relevant for Canada as well

Tweet Cruel and unusual punishment Everything I know about the Eighth Amendment and death penalty jurisprudence, I learned from former US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, from whom I had the privilege of studying law during a course on international human rights and constitutional law. US Supreme Court Justice Kennedy, as he was then, was […]

Bitcoin for terrorist financing linked to an exchange

Tweet For years now, people in the digital currency space have expressed concern about digital currency exchanges and digital currencies being abused for terrorist financing. Another report, this time from researchers at BellingCat, have apparently traced the use of a digital currency exchange directly to a terrorist group. Terrorist financing is not only prohibited and […]

How the US Alien Tort Statute might expose Canadian financial institutions

Tweet The US Supreme Court this term is ruling on a case that may impact Canadian banks and other financial institutions. The case, Jesner v. Arab Bank, involves over 6,000 petitioners from Israel who were victims of terrorism in the Middle East who filed a tort claim against a corporation in New York, the Arab […]

The CIA on terrorism and tech

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 […]

The $200 million a year refugee smuggling operation in Libya

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 […]

A banker’s update on terrorist financing and money laundering from the US Committee on Homeland Security

Tweet Summary of the Updates The US House Committee on Homeland Security released a number of updates and received testimony on the status of terrorist financing, terrorism and money laundering in the last few weeks with some interesting developments relevant to banks in terms of changes in terrorist financing typologies that should be added to […]

Canada and the fake refugee passport issue

Tweet Fake refugees — A crisis within a crisis It seems to becoming clear that it is not reasonably possible to rely on the identity documents of any persons who claim Syrian or Iraqi refugee status from 2014 onwards, the time in which the Islamic State acquired the capacity to create authentic passports. Since at […]

FinTech and Terrorist Financing – a major RegTech issue

Tweet The news last month that the couple responsible for the San Bernadino shooting had received a P2P loan for $28,000 from an online lender, Prosper Marketplace, was cause for concern among financial crime regulators. It was cause for concern because some financial regulators were of the view that a typology for terrorist financing is […]

France’s top lawyer says there’s no reason to be optimistic on terrorism front

Tweet Francois Molins, France’s top prosecutor, says that the risk of terrorism is becoming larger, more multi-faceted and complex. In this interview (en francais), Maitre Molins talks about the threat of terrorism in France and some of the investigation and prosecution challenges in respect of counter-terrorism. No reason for optimism in terrorism Mr. Molins said […]