When I see a story about a chief compliance officer going to jail it catches my attention. Judge John F. Walter in the Central District of California sentenced Humberto Sanchez, the compliance officer of G&A Check Cashing to 60 months in prison. Private fund managers rarely have to worry about check cashing and bags of … Read more »
Category: Anti-Money Laundering
OFAC and Private Funds
An SEC-registered investment adviser entered into a settlement agreement with the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control for allegedly failing to maintain a compliance program. The problem was triggered when the adviser’s foreign affiliate caused one of its clients to invest in a Cayman Islands fund that appeared on OFAC’s list of Specially … Read more »
Iran, Tuvalu, and Oil
Anyone who works with sanctions monitoring most likely hates ships. Their names are so common that the ships’ names routinely cause false positives. (My software has a button to exclude ships’ names, but I often forget to activate that feature.) Now the Iranian oil sanctions program is highlighting some issues with ships. The tiny Pacific … Read more »
Anti-Money Laundering Program and Procedures
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has taken center stage in the headlines for international finance problems. But last week the regulators let us know that the PATRIOT Act has not gone away. ING Bank agreed to forfeit $619 million after admitting that it covered up billions of dollars in transfers that violated U.S. sanctions on Iran … Read more »
Proposed FATCA Regulations Released
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2009 was part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act of 2010 (the HIRE Act) passed in 2010. If you have foreign investors or domestic investors making their investments through offshore entities, you need to pay attention to this law. It requires private funds to collect information … Read more »
New Anti-Money Laundering Requirements for Non-Bank Mortgage Lenders and Originators
Private Equity has been siting on the fringes of Anti-money laundering regulation for many years. It’s still illegal to be involved in money laundering and fund managers should be taking some steps to protect themselves and to identify problems. There’s just no set script. FinCEN is supposedly working on a new rule. In the meantime, … Read more »
Changes Coming With Anti-Money Laundering Requirements
James H. Freis, Jr., Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, let us know that his agency is working on anti-money laundering requirements for investment advisers. At a November 15, 2011 speech at the American Bankers Association/American Bar Association’s Money Laundering Enforcement Conference he highlighted many of the issues of money-laundering in the various financial … Read more »
Laundering the Proceeds of Corruption
The FCPA and the Bribery Act focus mostly on the giver of the bribe. On the other hand, the recipients of the bribes need to deal with the cash to also avoid being caught. Like all criminals, they either shove cash into their mattresses or find a way to launder the money to get it … Read more »
Anti-Money Laundering Obligations For Private Funds
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Treasury’s financial intelligence unit has been trying to impose anti-money laundering obligations on private funds for years. On September 26, 2002, FinCEN issued a notice of proposed rulemaking, proposing to require unregistered investment companies to establish and implement anti-money laundering programs. (Anti-Money Laundering Programs for Unregistered Investment Companies, 67 FR … Read more »
God Says No More Money Laundering
I expect that we will see a see standard in anti-money laundering programs. Pope Benedict XVI committed the Vatican to the fight against money laundering, counterfeiting and the financing of terrorism. The headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church will now meet international standards of financial transparency. He has established a set of internal regulations which … Read more »