News
Financial Institutions Should Review Own Actions in $110M Italian Forfeiture Case
By Matt Squire
printFinancial institutions named in a U.S. Justice Department complaint seeking the forfeiture of $110 million in corruption proceeds should review all accounts related to the case, anti-money laundering professionals say. The funds in 19 accounts at a number of U.S.-based institutions are the proceeds of a public corruption case in Italy and are laundered funds, the Justice Department said in a complaint filed Thursday in federal court in Miami. The institutions-which include Atlas One Financial Group LLC, Citibank, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Wachovia Securities, Lazard Asset Management LLC, UBS Paine Weber, and First Allied Securities-weren't accused of any...
TO READ THE FULL STORY
Subscribe
Learn More
Related News
Pending U.S. legislation intended to curtail the misuse of federal asset forfeiture powers could dissuade law enforcement officials from pursuing some civil seizures linked to suspected criminal activity, experts say.
Citigroup subsidiary Banamex USA will pay federal and state agencies $140 million for unresolved anti-money laundering violations ahead of the shutdown of its U.S. operations, the bank and regulators said Wednesday.
In internal reviews and an ongoing criminal and regulatory investigation, Citigroup employees and Mexican officials have privately voiced concerns that drug traffickers may have infiltrated Banamex's anti-money laundering department, say sources.
Follow the headlines and you'll find an all too common story: the political winds shift, a leader is deposed and a fortune in dirty money is uncovered in a warren of offshore accounts. But why did no one stop the plundering sooner?
Proposals by California's top prosecutor to strengthen the state's anti-money laundering laws are expected to find broad support among lawmakers.
The Bank of England reportedly exerts "strong pressure" on Russia's second largest bank, an arrested Zetas leader's sons tweet incriminating photographs, and more, in this week's news roundup.
Ukraine's widespread protests and weakened political stability are likely to prompt nervous investors and corrupt officials alike to move their money abroad, say economic analysts.
A Berlin-based advocacy group said Tuesday that Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia remained the least trusted nations in the world for the second year in a row.
Lawmakers should expand financial safe harbor protections to allow banks to better share their suspicions about money laundering and its predicate crimes, a top U.S. regulatory official said Sunday.
Attorneys for a Florida couple accused of selling black-market medical devices argued before the Supreme Court Wednesday that the government's power to freeze the assets of defendants should be further limited.
U.K. leaders intend to review whether facilitation should be legal again, CFATF warns countries about the risks of Belize, Guyana and Dominica, and more, in this week's news roundup.
Citigroup, Inc. must improve its anti-money laundering compliance risk management across business lines and subsidiaries, under a consent order disclosed Tuesday by the Federal Reserve Board.
An intergovernmental group Tuesday criticized Austria, Spain and the Netherlands for failing to sufficiently investigate and convict individuals and corporations that bribe foreign officials.
The U.S. government's landmark case against HSBC Holdings Plc for knowingly turning a blind eye to financial crime is seemingly fated to end much as it began: complex and messy.
An intergovernmental group's revised expectations of how countries should seize looted assets may prove difficult to meet, and could lower the mutual evaluation scores nations receive for their anti-money laundering controls.
Citigroup's top anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance officer has resigned to take a position at JPMorgan Chase, according to an e-mail obtained by ACAMS MoneyLaundering.com and an individual familiar with bank discussions.
SEC warns broker-dealers on the money laundering risks of master/sub-account trading arrangements, a Swiss official calls on the UN to blacklist a former Tunisian president and his aides, and more, in this week's roundup.
Three intergovernmental groups are questioning the effectiveness of anti-money laundering controls meant to curb abuses of corrupt political figures who steal from their countries.
The Southern District of New York collected over 52 percent less in asset forfeitures in fiscal year 2008 than it did in the previous year, the agency said Thursday.
A federal judge in Miami, Florida, approved the forfeiture of $110 million in U.S. banks that prosecutors say was the proceeds of a 20-year-old public corruption case involving the bribery of Italian judges.