Tagged: money laundering

July 13, 2024 @ 11:06 am By Omar Faridi  |  

While public blockchains are inherently transparent and traceable, illicit actors turn to cryptocurrencies “to launder ill-gotten gains for the same reasons people use them for legitimate purposes: they are cross-border, virtually instant, and generally inexpensive to transact,” the team at Chainalysis noted in a blog… Read More

June 3, 2024 @ 11:41 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Singapore recently released the Environmental Crimes Money Laundering (ML) National Risk Assessment (NRA) which identifies the key threats and vulnerabilities in environmental crimes ML that Singapore “is exposed to, and outlines mitigation measures which government agencies, financial institutions (FIs) and Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professionals… Read More

May 17, 2024 @ 1:43 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Countries need to urgently step up their efforts to target the huge illicit profits generated by transnational organized crime that facilitate conflicts, fund terrorism, and negatively impact vulnerable populations, according to an update shared by FATF. This was the unprecedented call to action from the… Read More

May 16, 2024 @ 11:36 am By Omar Faridi  |  

A US Department of Justice (DOJ) indictment was unsealed, charging Anton Peraire-Bueno, 24, of Boston, and James Pepaire-Bueno, 28, of New York, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The charges in the indictment arise “from an alleged… Read More

May 6, 2024 @ 8:57 pm By Michael Wong  |  

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the central bank of the Philippines, has issued new regulations mandating that banks and other financial institutions report significant incidents related to money laundering, terrorism financing, and proliferation financing within 24 hours. The directive, outlined in a circular signed… Read More

April 1, 2024 @ 11:33 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has launched COSMIC, the first centralized digital platform to facilitate sharing of customer information among financial institutions (FIs) to combat money laundering (ML), terrorism financing (TF) and proliferation financing (PF) globally. The Financial Services and Markets (Amendment) Act 2023… Read More

March 18, 2024 @ 1:23 am By Omar Faridi  |  

AML (Anti-money Laundering) systems are a rapidly evolving area of technology, which has to compensate for the constant increase in volume and complexity of online financial crime, according to an extensive update shared by Juniper Research. Juniper Research defines anti-money laundering systems as “a set… Read More

February 15, 2024 @ 10:45 am By JD Alois  |  

Money laundering facilitated by crypto and the platforms that enable digital asset transactions exp[experienced a notable decline in 203 when compared to the year prior. According to a report by Chainalysis, in 2023, $22.2 billion was laundered in contrast to $31.5 billion laundered in 2022…. Read More

December 12, 2023 @ 5:38 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Policymakers need a “fuller view” of consequences of illicit flows, including tallies of the fiscal, monetary, financial, and structural costs, according to an update from the IMF. The fight against financial crime isn’t lost, but the world “needs to do more to limit the economic… Read More

November 10, 2023 @ 8:25 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Germany’s Finance Minister Christian Lindner on Thursday (November 9, 2023) called on European Union nations to choose Frankfurt as the seat of the bloc’s anti-money laundering authority (AMLA). Lindner stated that a decision to locate AMLA in Frankfurt is a key move in order to… Read More

November 4, 2023 @ 2:10 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

On November 3, 2023, the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Russian national Ekaterina Zhdanova for using cryptocurrency “to launder money on behalf of Russian elites, ransomware groups, and other bad actors.” Chainalysis has examined the three Bitcoin… Read More

November 3, 2023 @ 5:21 am By Omar Faridi  |  

FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has been found guilty Thursday (November 2, 2023) on all seven counts that are related to fraud as well as money laundering. Bankman-Fried was indicted on fraud charges on December 22, 2022, following the collapse of his crypto… Read More

September 24, 2023 @ 3:51 pm By Michael Wong  |  

In what is being touted as Singapore‘s most significant money laundering operation, authorities reported a staggering increase in the total value of assets confiscated, now amounting to S$2.4 billion ($1.76 billion), according to a police announcement. The huge inventory of seized assets now encompasses over… Read More

September 9, 2023 @ 3:20 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Faruk Fatih Özer, the former Chief Executive of collapsed Turkey-based cryptocurrency exchange Thodex, has reportedly been sentenced to 11,196 years in prison on Thursday (September 7, 2023). Stealing around $2 billion from his clients led to the CEO of one of Turkey’s biggest virtual currency… Read More

August 20, 2023 @ 10:11 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is setting out their expectations for crypto-asset businesses that need “to comply with a change in money laundering legislation legislated by government in July 2022.” From 1 September 2023, crypto-asset businesses in the UK will be “required to collect,… Read More

August 6, 2023 @ 6:03 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Binance says it is pleased to announce the appointment of our former Global Head of Corporate Compliance Kristen Hecht as their new Deputy Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) and Global Money Laundering Reporting Officer (GMLRO) at Binance. As noted in a blog post, Kristen reportedly “brings… Read More

August 1, 2023 @ 10:56 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) recently launched a public consultation on a revised framework to strengthen surveillance and defence against money laundering (ML) risks in Singapore’s Single Family Office (SFO) sector. The revised framework will aim to “introduce a harmonized class exemption for SFOs… Read More

July 22, 2023 @ 6:47 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Rapyd, the global Fintech-as-a-Service provider, today announced the appointment of Dr. Shlomit Wagman, former Director-General of the Israel Money Laundering and Terror Financing Prohibition Authority (IMPA), Head of the Israeli Delegation to the FATF, Chair of the FATF operational working group, and a Harvard-affiliated scholar,… Read More

July 17, 2023 @ 9:09 am By Omar Faridi  |  

German regulatory authority BaFin has reportedly extended measures at digital bank N26 in an effort to prevent illicit activities. In 2019, BaFin issued an order targeting N26, telling the Fintech to “take appropriate internal safety measures” for the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing…. Read More

June 22, 2023 @ 3:31 pm By JD Alois  |  

Detractors of digital assets, or crypto, typically point to the utilization of crypto to pursue nefarious activities such as money laundering. Rules exist for financial transactions regarding “know your customer” (KYC) and “anti-money laundering” (AML), but they are enforced to various degrees depending on the… Read More