The Institute AML & Financial Crime Digest #103
Our regular digest of news, views and commentary.
Featured
- The sour truth of Oxford Street’s candy shop curse
- Flawed white collar justice: No wonder the world's financial miscreants want their cases to be heard in the UK
- The Financial Conduct Authority Investigations and Enforcement Summit 2023 is taking place on the 1st June
- Evading Sanctions with Russian MK Companies - Andrew Fink and Matthew Johnston, Exovera
- The Financial Conduct Authority has said it will assess firms with little or no notice when it has reason to believe that a risk of harm may be present
- Isle of Man Foreign PEP Thematic Report - May 2023 (PDF)
- Kenneth Rijock: #AI may be your only opportunity to identify domestic terrorism financing at your bank
- Fraud - Insolvency - Recovery - Enforcement. Fire Magazine Issue 13 (PDF)
- Department for Culture, Media and Sport and HM Treasury: Information about the Dormant Assets Scheme, including its impact to date and expansion
- High Court refuses permission for climate-change activist shareholder to bring derivative action on behalf of Shell plc against its directors - Rupert Lewis et al
- Basel Institute on Governance: Money laundering and sanctions evasion using the art market (PDF)
Comment & Opinion
- Where data resides and how fast you can move it between jurisdictions is going to be crucial if you want to adhere to compliance, says David Trossell
- Section 44: fig leaf or shield? - Sue Millar, Jo Jones et al
- UK: Moves towards greater transparency under The UK National Security And Investment Act? - Veronica Roberts, Ali Macgregor and Ruth Allen (née Sander)
- How to reduce digital onboarding risks - Inna Demchenko, MBA, PMP -
- Looking back at 10 Years of Compliance with FTI Law, Ondato, YouControl, Acadia, Wagner Hicks PLLC
- Kenneth Rijock: Money launderers continue to exploit the knowledge gap among compliance officers
Sanctions
- Resources for Compliance Professionals, Covering the Evolving Sanctions Landscape
- A panel co-hosted by CDR and Peters & Peters discussed the current sanctions regime in the UK and beyond with regard to Russia, a subject which stimulated heated discussion and debate during London International Disputes Week (LIDW).
- "...researchers... found people named on the Magnitsky lists could gain access to the financial system and evade the rules almost as easily as low-risk individuals" -
- “Our initial results led us to conclude that there was little evidence that smart sanctions are effective in normal circumstances. However, the war appeared to significantly increase scrutiny of Russian individuals and made it more difficult for them to access international financial services.” - Mike Findley and Daniel Nielson.
Regulation & Compliance
- The UK has so far failed to impose fines worth as much as £1bn on foreign companies which have failed to declare their beneficial owners since the introduction of the Economic Crime Act in February 2022
- UK Regulation Roundup - Andrew Wingfield, John Verwey, Amar Unadkat, Sulaiman Malik et al.
- Complidata, a provider of AI automation and compliance solutions, has appointed Ben Arber as CEO #RegTech startup AMLYZE snags $1 million pre-seed investment Overcoming the biggest challenges that financial institutions face when it comes to using analytics - Sophie Dionnet -
Cryptocurrency & Digital Assets
- Top 10 Exchange Development Companies In 2023 - Denis Redin
- Making a comeback - Fractional Art Investing
- EU adopts regulation making crypto-asset transfers traceable
- EU approves new set of MiCA rules for cryptocurrency
- Treasury Committee: Crypto should be regulated as gambling - read the full report and recommendations to government
- “CryptoUK strongly disagrees with the Treasury Committee’s conclusion, and we are both concerned and disappointed by these claims which are unhelpful, false, fundamentally flawed and unsubstantiated. The statement fails to reflect the true nature, purpose and potential of the crypto industry.” - Ian Taylor, Board Advisor at CryptoUK
- The US Secret Service Says Blockchain Is An "Amazing Opportunity" To Track Money; It also has an #NFT collection.
Corruption
- Major Tory donor investigated over fraud and money laundering allegations -
- MPs demand Tories return Javad Marandi donations after links to money laundering probe revealed
- Naming of Tory donor linked to money laundering case ‘a major victory for open justice’ -
- Corruption in Urban Planning: A Guide for Professional and Trainee Planners
- PwC will seize long-term oversight of its Australian business following the local team’s involvement in a tax leak scandal -
Frauds & Scams
- Lancashire energy company owner found guilty of multiple fraud charges
- Dating cons known as “pig butchering”, fake missing person appeals and dodgy apps are among the most widely used and convincing scams in circulation this year.
- British men are taking payments of thousands of pounds to pose as fathers for migrant women's babies, a BBC investigation has found
- Fraudsters who supplied falsified passports to some of the UK's most wanted criminals have been jailed.
- Sunderland family made £2m through website tricking people into paying for European health cards
Cybercrime
- The Met Police are struggling to hire specialist officers to tackle #cybercrime
- 288 dark web vendors arrested in major marketplace seizure -
Organised Crime and Law Enforcement
- Piracy On The Seas: The Great Security Challenge Of The 21st Century -
- International art trafficking sting leads to 60 arrests and over 11000 objects recovered
- Underworld ‘co-working’ space shut down in Antwerp
- 132 ‘Ndrangheta mafia members arrested after investigation by Belgium Italy and Germany
- National Crime Agency (NCA) officers have uncovered a specialist factory in south London for converting blank-firing guns into lethal weapons using 3D printed partsDeutsche Bank has agreed to pay $75m (£60m) to settle a lawsuit brought by a group of women who accused the German lender of helping facilitate Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operations -
The former boss of collapsed investment firm London Capital & Finance (LCF), which left about 11,000 investors facing 237 million pounds ($300 million) in losses, has been spared jail after breaching a court order freezing his assets.
Research
