The Institute AML & Financial Crime Digest #100

Featured

• A new blueprint to protect the public from scammers. The government launches a new strategy to cut fraud, pursue fraudsters and empower the public - https://bit.ly/3NH39US
• ...But experts at Royal United Services Institute identify gaps in the strategy - https://bit.ly/44qRBuW
• The role of legal professionals as gatekeepers in the prevention of fraud, corruption, and tax evasion - Marcus Staff on what the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill could mean for lawyers - https://bit.ly/3NDCOa7
• AML Investigations: Basics, Best Practices, and Beyond - Rio Miner - https://bit.ly/3LSghnR
• Preventing Money Laundering in the Age of Big Data - Anti-money laundering laws weren’t designed with big data or algorithms in mind: https://bit.ly/42o1CqR
• The UK is to ban all cold calls selling financial products as part of a national crackdown on scams - https://bit.ly/3LTGzad
• A KPMG Survey investigates what is top-of-mind with CCOs? – https://bit.ly/3ATgHFb
• Open consultation - Preventing the use of SIM farms for fraud - https://bit.ly/425yDIA
• 15 years since Madoff and our obsession with financial crime continues - https://bit.ly/3nuCv6Z - Alastair Lauder
• Susan Hawley on the Demise of the SFO - https://bit.ly/418MEUCGerman and Italian police have arrested more than 100 people on Wednesday in a crackdown on the Italian 'Ndrangheta organised crime group - https://bit.ly/3LUGZ07
• Interview with Gregg Barak on his new book – a criminological investigation of what he calls “the world’s most successful outlaw, Donald J. Trump.” - https://bit.ly/44sfEJQ

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Comment & Opinion

• Nigel Morris-Cotterill - Financial Crime Risk and Compliance: The Tyranny of Regulators. https://bit.ly/3AWRHNrNicola Sharp outlines a case where an individual’s knowledge of a tax evasion scheme was key - https://bit.ly/42n3Cj5Economic Crime Bill To Strengthen UK's Response To Global Financial Crime - by Michael Balmer and James Farrell - https://bit.ly/3LWkPe7
• Why financial institutions should welcome Companies House reform - Ivan Heard - https://bit.ly/3LBq2Gu

Sanctions

• Excerpt from The Future of Risk Management and Compliance 2023: Sanctions will play an increasingly prominent role - https://bit.ly/3NCHNYI
• In this article Robert Pollock-Hill takes a look at the judgment in the case of PJSC National Bank Trust & Anor and assess its implications - https://bit.ly/3nrG3XC

Regulation & Compliance

• In this article, Kirstie McDermott explores the compliance state of play in the UK's #fintech space, and the companies currently hiring tech talent - https://bit.ly/3HG8OH4
• HSF's Banking Litigation Update (PDF) - https://bit.ly/42mfYIu
• Professional legal and accounting bodies in Britain continue to show significant weaknesses in policing how their members apply anti-money laundering rules - https://bit.ly/3LxdCQa
• The UK's Introduction Of A New "Failure To Prevent Fraud" Offence Edges Closer -Zoe Osborne - https://bit.ly/3p6QdNS
• Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP has hired David Rundle as a London office partner to bolster the firm’s white-collar and regulatory investigations team - https://bit.ly/3paye9v2023 Swiss Law Update For International Sports Federations – Anti-Money Laundering Requirements & General Meetings - https://bit.ly/3LTFXkV

FinTech

• Weak Mobile App Security Leaves Banking Customers Vulnerable to Fraud - https://bit.ly/3LTSPHJ
• How Artificial Intelligence is Revolutionising the Fintech Landscape? - https://bit.ly/3LVolW4 - Ekmel Cilingir, Chairman of the Supervisory Board at European Merchant Bank

Cryptocurrency & Digital Assets

• Are The Doors Still Open for Crypto Companies in The U.K.? - https://bit.ly/3AUYjfc
• Ex-OpenSea employee was not told NFT info was confidential, defense says - https://bit.ly/42rOFfV

Corruption

• The EC is "taking decisive action to fight corruption in the EU and worldwide, delivering on the commitment made by President von der Leyen in her 2022 State of the Union address". - https://bit.ly/42qDJyP
• Dan Hough interviews Liz David-Barrett and Roxana Bratu about corruption measurement debates - https://bit.ly/3nreHB5
• The president of a Guatemalan investigative newspaper went on trial Tuesday on money laundering charges in a case media observers have criticized as politically motivated - https://bit.ly/3p7ejIj

Frauds & Scams

• Mattress fraud costing industry £100m a year - https://bit.ly/3LUBzlD

Organised Crime and law Enforcement

• Underground drug-money bank laundering EUR 180 million liquidated by law enforcement - https://bit.ly/3NzqtUF
• 288 dark web vendors arrested in major marketplace seizure - Law enforcement on three continents seize EUR 50.8 million in cash and virtual currencies, 850 kg of drugs and 117 firearms - https://bit.ly/3nv7H68
• German customs will be strengthened to play a key role in the fight against organised crime and money laundering, and illegally obtained assets will be confiscated, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said on Wednesday - https://bit.ly/3VwPFwU

Terrorism

• A 50-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of funding terrorism and is believed to be connected to art collector and diamond dealer Nazem Ahmad - https://bbc.in/3oZ9C3j

Research

• Evidencing source of wealth–challenges, questions, solutions and recommendations - Mario Menz, PhD - https://bit.ly/3LTOW5D
• Is the UK’s anti-money laundering regime “worth the candle”? A tentative cost-benefit analysis - @Peter Alan Sproat - https://bit.ly/3p7IAqx
• Macrocriminology and Freedom by John Braithwaite (PDF) - https://bit.ly/3HEhWMo