- Home/Publications/Money Laundering Bulletin
Carrot or stick? How to incentivise compliance
'What gets measured gets done': by that reckoning, rewards to/for AML compliance should increase confidence that the business will run clear of rule breaches and potentially massive penalties, so protecting, arguably benefiting, the bottom line. Paul Cochrane looks at 'compliance payback' models and how they stack up against coercive enforcement in improving behaviour.
Online Published Date:
27 February 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
WGS Solicitors and partners fined for breaches of UK ML Regulations
London law firm WGS Solicitors and two of its partners, Richard Gerber and Bridget Miller, have been ordered to pay UK£25,258 (US$31,900), UK£20,000 (US$25,260) and UK£3,500 (US$4,420), respectively, plus costs, following an investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) prompted by reports the firm had filed on two former clients.
Online Published Date:
27 February 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
OKX pays US$505m after guilty plea for unlicensed money transmission
Aux Cayes Fintech Co Ltd, a Seychelles-based company, better known by its trading name OKX, a leading global cryptocurrency exchange, has pled guilty in New York to one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. OKX will criminally forfeit US$420.3 million and pay a criminal fine of US$84.4 million.
Online Published Date:
27 February 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
UK launches expanded Russia sanctions on third anniversary of invasion
The British government launched its largest ever sanctions package against Russia, marking the third anniversary of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, on 24 February.
Online Published Date:
27 February 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
Morgan Stanley (Switzerland) fined CHF1m after AML missed Greek bribery proceeds
The Swiss arm of US bank Morgan Stanley has accepted a CHF1 million (US$1,107,735) financial penalty over its failure to detect suspicious activity and conduct adequate due diligence on source of funds deposited into accounts of a cousin of former Greek defence minister Apostolos-Athanasios Tsochatzopoulos, in 2010.
Online Published Date:
28 February 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
BaFin reports significant AML gaps at German financial firms
In a summary of findings from inspection visits, published 26 February, BaFin, the German financial services regulator, says it "regularly observed" that anti-money laundering (AML) officers lacked sufficient resources to do their job properly.
Online Published Date:
01 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
Four-year jail term for operating unlicensed crypto ATMs in UK
Olumide Osunkoya was sentenced to four years' jail, on 28 February, after becoming the first person convicted of unregistered cryptoasset activity in the UK.
Online Published Date:
01 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
US neuters beneficial ownership reporting law
US companies, their beneficial owners and other US citizens will not face penalties for failing to file beneficial ownership information, as required under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), the US Treasury Department announced on 2 March.
Online Published Date:
03 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
UnTethered? - stablecoins in Trump 2.0
With a pro-crypto President Donald Trump back in the Whitehouse, use of cryptocurrency in the USA, especially private stablecoins, may become more commonplace - but will it be met by parallel growth in AML/CFT regulation? Keith Nuthall canvasses measured opinion from the virtual space.
Online Published Date:
03 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
Four convicted of UK£200m+ money laundering deposits into NatWest
The National Westminster Bank account of Bradford, UK-based precious metals and jewellery dealer Fowler Oldfield received over UK£200 million (US$255 million) in criminal cash after two of its directors and two others working in the sector cooperated in money laundering for third parties between 2014 and 2016.
Online Published Date:
04 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
AG Communications pays UK£1.4m for AML and social responsibility breaches
The UK Gambling Commission has ordered AG Communications Ltd, trading as AspireGlobal, which operates 58 websites, to pay UK£1,407,834 (US$1,806,000) to socially responsible causes after it found flaws in its harm prevention measures and anti-money laundering/counter financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) controls.
Online Published Date:
05 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
EBA consults on rules for new EU AML/CFT regime
The European Banking Authority (EBA), on 6 March, issued four sets of draft regulatory technical standards (RTSs), under the European Union's revised anti-money laundering/counter financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) framework, for public consultation.
Online Published Date:
06 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
Robinhood fined US$26m for 'numerous' FINRA rule breaches, including AML
Securities brokerage Robinhood, comprising Robinhood Financial, LLC and Robinhood Securities, LLC, has been ordered, by FINRA, the US broker-dealer regulator, to pay US$26 million for not putting in place and operating reasonable anti-money laundering (AML) programs between January 2017 and November 2021, as well as for a host of other unrelated compliance failings.
Online Published Date:
09 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett fined UK£300,000 by lawyers' tribunal over AML breaches
The UK office of US law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett will pay UK£300,000 (US$388,730), plus UK£62,000 (US$80,340) costs for contraventions of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 between June 2017 and January 2023.
Online Published Date:
13 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
Sudan - back to basics
Civil war, no commercial banking activity in areas controlled by one faction or effective supervision of the financial sector, but a thriving export trade in gold, which circumvents international sanctions and funds ongoing conflict, combine to make Sudan a challenge at best, essentially off-grid at worst, in combating illicit money flows. Paul Cochrane finds little cause for optimism.
Online Published Date:
13 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
A welcome course correction: El-Khouri and extraterritoriality in ML cases
An attempted extradition to the US in connection with alleged insider trading has focused attention on the application of money laundering offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act to conduct outside the UK. Jonah Anderson of White & Case examines the Supreme Court judgment.
Online Published Date:
13 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
Measured progress - Nigeria
Having made considerable strides with AML regulation, on paper, the African financial powerhouse remains on the Financial Action Task Force grey list. Keith Nuthall and Samuel Okocha, in Abuja look at the reasons.
Online Published Date:
13 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025
Total fines fall and change awaits - UK AML supervision report 2023/24
The UK government says in its 12th annual report on the performance of anti-money laundering supervisors, covering 2023/24, that it "remains committed" to reforming the superstructure of 25 regulators that police obliged entities: four options were put forward in 2023 and a plan is now "a priority": no date set.
Online Published Date:
15 March 2025
Appeared in issue:
322 - 01 April 2025