Federal investigators increasingly suspect that criminals are funneling illicit assets into the legal economy through hedge funds, one of only a few categories of financial services left that still fall outside the scope of U.S. anti-money laundering rules.
Singapore will step up its supervision of financial institutions in light of allegations that banks in the city-state processed transactions linked to the embezzlement of billions of dollars from Malaysia.
U.S. officials on Wednesday filed 12 civil complaints seeking the forfeiture of more than $1 billion believed stolen from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund and laundered through more than 20 banks worldwide.