Author Archives: Brian Monroe
Scholarship Spotlight: Three ‘Ps’ propel Festus Aisagbonhi in fight against human trafficking – Prevention, protection, prosecution
By Brian Monroebmonroe@acfcs.orgSeptember 11, 2019 Festus Aisagbonhi knows that one of the greatest allies for criminals is when people – whether they are compliance professionals, investigators and even potential victims – don’t even understand the crime, or know the underlying human and financial red flags. That’s why as Head of Conduct and Compliance at Access Bank […]
Scholarship Spotlight: Stronger bank information sharing, public-private partnerships key to countering human trafficking, says Rosie McWhorter
By Brian Monroebmonroe@acfcs.orgSeptember 10, 2019 Trying to counter a crime as complex and nuanced as human trafficking – with criminal networks in recent years more aggressively weaving transactions in crypto coins and dispersing them through seemingly unconnected credit and prepaid cards and bank accounts – is a team effort, says Rosie McWhorter. As a senior […]
Scholarship Spotlight: Focus on victim protection, rather than prosecution, critical to building human trafficking cases, says Joseph Scaramucci
By Brian Monroebmonroe@acfcs.orgSeptember 9, 2019 For Joseph Scaramucci, taking down criminals, following the money and saving victims is why he got into law enforcement in the first place more than 15 years ago – a calling that has in recent years become a mission to tackle the soaring scourge of human trafficking and change the […]
Fincrime Briefing: Congress scrutinizes Deutsche Bank on AML, fines fuel EU de-risking, malware hijacks crypto blockchain, and more
By Brian Monroe bmonroe@acfcs.org September 9, 2019 Quote of the Day: “Let us make our future now, and let us make our dreams tomorrow’s reality.” – Malala Yousafzai In today’s ACFCS Fincrime Briefing, Congress grills Deutsche Bank on anti-money laundering, counter-corruption controls, flurry of EU bank AML fines prompts new wave of de-risking, virulent malware […]
Fincrime Briefing: U.K. fines money remitter record 8 million pounds, compliance job market slows, FATF reviews Hong Kong, and more
By Brian Monroebmonroe@acfcs.orgSeptember 5, 2019 Quote of the Day: “Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it.” – Charles R. Swindoll In today’s ACFCS Fincrime Briefing, U.K. hands down record penalty against remitter in London MSB sweep, red hot compliance job market slows, salaries stagnate, FATF reviews […]
CipherTrace tackles impending FATF crypto ‘travel rule’ obligations with ‘Travel Rule Information Sharing Architecture’ whitepaper
By Brian Monroebmonroe@acfcs.orgAugust 29, 2019 Several powerful regulatory and economic bodies have issued guidelines, guidance and statements in recent months that could fundamentally change the nature of crypto transactions and how virtual currency exchanges and other related entities share information on users with each other in a bid to counter financial crime. But these initiatives, […]
SEC penalizes embattled Deutsche Bank more than $16 million to settle graft failings tied to China, Russia ‘referral hires’ – third bank to fall
By Brian Monroe bmonroe@acfcs.org August 28, 2019 The country’s top securities watchdog has penalized beleaguered behemoth Deutsche Bank AG more than $16 million to settle charges it violated domestic corruption laws by hiring the relatives of foreign government officials in order to illicitly influence them and snare new investment banking business deals. For nearly a […]
Estonia, at epicenter of EU money laundering scandals, ranked country least likely to launder money: AML index
Composite index reveals duality of clean countries, reveals gulf between technical compliance, effectiveness By Brian Monroe bmonroe@acfcs.org August 27, 2019 A new report grading countries for perceived financial crime proclivities, in an ironic twist showing the inherent challenges of creating such rankings, has crowned Estonia the global champ – a region at the center of […]
Fincrime Briefing: Embattled Estonia tops new AML index, CipherTrace tackles FATF crypto ‘travel rule,’ and more
By Brian Monroebmonroe@acfcs.orgAugust 26, 2019 Quote of the Day: “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt In today’s ACFCS Fincrime Briefing, in an ignoble irony, Estonia is crowned king of an annual AML index, CipherTrace offers an architectural lesson on how to potentially comply with FATF’s crypto “Travel Rule,” SEC fines Deutsche […]
In Shutdown, AML, Terror Agencies Scrimp On Guidance, Regulations, GTOS, Foreign Info Sharing
As the record partial government shutdown continues, eclipsing three weeks, the hampered operations are taking their toll on U.S. financial crime defenses, with agencies issuing fewer pieces of guidance, rules, regional risk assessments and halting responses to certain domestic and foreign information sharing requests, just to name a few.
Financial Crime Wave – OCCRP and TI team up to tackle corruption, historic hack at Yahoo, and more
In this week’s Financial Crime Wave, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and Transparency International join forces to tackle corruption on a grand scale, hackers make history with breach of 1 billion records at beleaguered former tech behemoth Yahoo, U.S. Treasury, in a first, designates money services businesses in Iraq and Syria for supporting […]