The recent joint effort between the U.S. and Mexico in the arrest of Sinaloa Cartel head Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman can be seen as a sign of renewed cooperation between investigators in both countries after a yearlong lull.
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.
In response to Mexico's restrictions on U.S. dollar deposits, drug traffickers have turned to funneling dirty money through accounts opened for seemingly legitimate businesses, American officials warned Wednesday.
Money launderers working on behalf of Mexican cartels have moved southward after a deferred prosecution agreement between Western Union and Arizona gave investigators unprecedented access to remittance data in Northern Mexico, according to Vince Piano.
Bank compliance staff should better scrutinize clients tied to Central America and Mexico's cattle industry following a spate of related U.S. sanctions, say current and former officials.
Plans to attract foreign capital and expertise to Mexico's oil sector could give organized crime groups and corrupt officials an opportunity to layer and integrate dirty money, say industry analysts.
Trade-based schemes and bulk cash smuggling are among the most common tactics used by international money launderers, according to Joseph Gallion, the deputy assistant director of the Financial, Narcotics and Special Operations Division for the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
The New Mexico Attorney General's Office has expanded its team of anti-money laundering investigators as a result of a 2010 settlement between the state of Arizona and Western Union, according to the state's top prosecutor.
In the wake of regulatory crackdowns and multiple criminal probes, financial institutions operating in Mexico are spending millions of dollars to upgrade their anti-money laundering programs, say bank staff.
Mexican cartel members are exploiting mirror accounts in the United States and Mexico to launder money and evade U.S. dollar deposit restrictions, financial regulators said Thursday.
State prosecutors along the U.S.-Mexico border are studying whether drug traffickers are acting as subagents for Mexican banks that front payments on behalf of American money services businesses.
Key features of an anti-money laundering strategy to combat drug trafficking organizations pitched last year by Mexican officials may ultimately be dropped by lawmakers, say industry advisors.
Thousands of lightly regulated currency exchange centers in Mexico are suspected of laundering criminal proceeds for drug trafficking organizations, according to analysts and former Mexican government officials.
Mexico's Ministry of Finance is planning to issue new regulations on mortgage and property finance companies in an effort to curtail money laundering through property loans, a Mexican daily newspaper reported Monday.
Crackdowns on currency exchange and bond swap businesses in Mexico and Venezuela are prompting some U.S. banks to turn away secondary market businesses in Latin America even when they operate legitimately, say consultants.
Only a month after their adoption, new rules limiting U.S. dollar deposits into Mexican financial institutions have pushed money laundering activity into the United States, federal regulators said Tuesday.
It seems incongruous: even as Mexico's problems with drug trafficking, money laundering and violence have worsened in unprecedented ways, the Latin American economy's ability to attract foreign investors has grown.
Mexico President Felipe Calderon introduced a bevy of measures Thursday designed to crimp the flow of illicit drug proceeds from entering the country's financial system, including by limiting cash transactions on purchasing aircraft, vehicles, and real estate.
Revisions to Mexico's anti-money laundering strategy promised earlier this month must account for regulatory-gaps in trade-based money laundering, the continuing problem of casas de cambio and the use of U.S. dollars in Mexico, say ex-law enforcement officials and compliance professionals.
The Mexican Finance Ministry Tuesday unveiled strict new limits on cash deposits of U.S. dollars in efforts to curb the flow of illicit cash into the financial system from drug traffickers.