On September 8, 2023, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) released an alert regarding a notorious virtual currency scam called “pig butchering,” because, unfortunately, it resembles the “fattening a hog before slaughter.” These scams are primarily perpetrated by criminal organizations in Southeast Asia where these scams are also called “Sha Zhu Pan.”… Continue Reading
On July 13, 2022, the House of Representatives (the “House”) adopted an amendment to the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) offered by Maxine Waters (D. CA), inserting into the NDAA a version of the “Establishing New Authorities for Business Laundering and Enabling Risks to Security Act,” otherwise more commonly known as the ENABLERS Act. … Continue Reading
On July 6, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (collectively, “the Agencies”) issued a Joint Statement to “remind” banks that they, of course, should apply a risk-based approach to assessing customer relationships and conducting customer due diligence (“CDD”).… Continue Reading
On June 15, FinCEN issued an Advisory on Elder Financial Exploitation (“Advisory”) to warn financial institutions about the rising trend of elder financial exploitation (“EFE”), which FinCEN defines as “the illegal or improper use of an older adult’s funds, property, or assets, and is often perpetrated either through theft or scams.” … Continue Reading
On May 19, 2022, the Associate Director of the Enforcement and Compliance Division of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”), Alessio Evangelista, spoke at the Chainalysis Links Conference in New York City on the topic of “The Intersection of Cryptocurrencies and National Security.” Associate Director Evangelista stressed “responsible innovation” by the cryptocurrency industry, in order to protect consumers and national security interests, as well as to combat cybercrime and other illicit financial activity. … Continue Reading
The topics discussed include the historic changes made by the AML Act at the beginning of 2021, including the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA); the proposed FinCEN rules to implement the CTA’s beneficial ownership reporting requirements; the CTA’s implications for financial institutions’ customer due diligence compliance obligations; FinCEN’s list of priorities for AML and countering the financing of terrorism; potential AML regulation of the real estate industry; and expectations for future BSA/AML regulation and enforcement concerning virtual currency and digital assets.… Continue Reading
As required by the Anti-Money Laundering Act (“AML Act”), the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued on June 30, 2021 its 14-page assessment regarding the feasibility of FinCEN issuing so-called “no-action” letters to financial institutions (the “Assessment”). FinCEN issued this Assessment on the same day that it issued the first government-wide list of national priorities for anti-money laundering (“AML”) and countering the financing of terrorism (“CFT”), as we have blogged. … Continue Reading