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BitMEX founders, convicted of BSA violations, pardoned by Trump
The three co-founders of cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX, who pled guilty to violating the US Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) in 2022, have been pardoned by the US President.
Online Published Date:
01 April 2025
Appeared in issue:
323 - 01 May 2023
Refused DAMLs up, assets denied down - UK FIU annual report
In the year to March 2024, the UK financial intelligence unit (UKFIU) refused consent to go ahead with a transaction following a defence against money laundering (DAML) report, where there was no previous law enforcement investigation, 61% more times than in the previous 12 months.
Online Published Date:
02 April 2025
Appeared in issue:
323 - 01 May 2023
More zing - Zambia
Moves, of late, to strengthen Zambia's justice system are positive but big gaps in anti-money laundering requirements need filling and enforcement is underpowered, find Daniel Tonga, in Lusaka, and Keith Nuthall.
Online Published Date:
02 April 2025
Appeared in issue:
323 - 01 May 2023
OKCoin Europe fined €1.05m in Malta for CDD, monitoring, reporting breaches
Virtual asset service provider OKCoin Europe Ltd has been ordered to pay €1,054,269 (US$1,153,845) by Malta's Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) following an onsite inspection, in April 2023, which discovered non-compliance with the Prevention of Money Laundering and Funding of Terrorism Regulations (PMLFTR).
Online Published Date:
07 April 2025
Appeared in issue:
323 - 01 May 2023
35 years of 40 Recommendations: why, in 2025, effective AML demands more than FATF compliance
Many, if not all, financial professionals have encountered the term 'FATF Recommendations' at some point in their careers, writes Mikhail Karataev. These Recommendations, which form the foundation of the global anti-money laundering/counter financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) framework, were first adopted in April 1990, less than a year after the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) was established at the G7 Summit in July 1989 as a collective response to the growing threat of drug-related money laundering. In April 2025, the FATF standards mark their 35th anniversary - a timely and important opportunity to critically assess the tangible outcomes, gaps and evolving challenges in the global fight against financial crime.
Online Published Date:
07 April 2025
Appeared in issue:
323 - 01 May 2023
Zigzag - new money in Zimbabwe
A currency reset is an expression of hope but brings uncertainty in the transition and so openings for the unscrupulous. Tendai Sahondo, in Harare & Keith Nuthall review the launch of Zimbabwe Gold (ZIG).
Online Published Date:
08 April 2025
Appeared in issue:
323 - 01 May 2023
In plain sight - influencers
Going online is easy, but building a following for your content is hard and sustaining those viewing figures harder still so it is unsurprising that some influencers may be tempted to create or come to rely on 'alternative' revenue streams. Paul Cochrane & Keith Nuthall explore an unregulated channel for criminal finance.
Online Published Date:
08 April 2025
Appeared in issue:
323 - 01 May 2023
Revolut fined €3.5m in Lithuania over monitoring failings
The Bank of Lithuania has levied a €3.5m penalty on UK fintech Revolut's European bank after it found "violations and shortcomings in the monitoring of business relationships and [transactions]".
Online Published Date:
08 April 2025
Appeared in issue:
323 - 01 May 2023
US Justice Department rows back crypto enforcement
In a memo to staff, sent on 7 April, Todd Blanche, deputy US attorney-general, said the Department of Justice (DoJ) would stop pursuing cryptocurrency exchanges, mixers, tumblers and wallets "for the acts of their end users or unwitting violations of regulations".
Online Published Date:
09 April 2025
Appeared in issue:
323 - 01 May 2023
Trio of financial services firms fined in South Africa for holed AML
Adams Chrambanis & Associates, ID Capital (Pty) Ltd, and Henk Kolver Investment Management Services have all been given civil financial penalties by South Africa's Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) for breaching the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA).
Online Published Date:
09 April 2025
Appeared in issue:
323 - 01 May 2023
UK lawyer suspended after client used firm as bank
William Osmond, owner of Osmond Solicitors Ltd, is not allowed to practise as a solicitor for 12 months, from 25 February, after admitting that between 12 May 2014 and 3 October 2017, he had allowed the firm's client account to be "used as a banking facility for no other reason than the convenience of a client".
Online Published Date:
09 April 2025
Appeared in issue:
323 - 01 May 2023
Ex-Russian minister sentenced to 40 months in jail for UK sanctions breaches
Dmitrii Ovsiannikov, governor of Sevastapol in illegally-annexed Crimea from 2017, has been sentenced to 40 months in jail after he was found guilty in a London court of breaching UK sanctions and money laundering. His is the first conviction under the Russian Regulations 2019.
Online Published Date:
10 April 2025
Appeared in issue:
323 - 01 May 2023
Block fined US$40m in New York for BSA failings, SARs backlog
Block, Inc, formerly Square, must pay a US$40 million civil penalty to the New York Department of Financial Services over Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) violations in operating its Cash App peer-to-peer money transfer service.
Online Published Date:
11 April 2025
Appeared in issue:
323 - 01 May 2023
Peru past president receives 15 years' jail for money laundering
Ollanta Humala, Peru's president from 2011 to 2016, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, on 15 April, for laundering over US$3 million received from Odebrecht, the Brazilian construction company, and the Venezuelan regime of the late Hugo Chavez.
Online Published Date:
17 April 2025
Appeared in issue:
323 - 01 May 2023
Passports for sale - the Dominican Republic
A significant contributor to the nation's finances, Dominica's citizenship by investment programme is set for scrutiny in the High Court amid claims that receipts have gone astray. Gemma Handy, in St John's, Antigua, and Keith Nuthall report on the case and look at the checks and balances in place to keep out bad characters.
Online Published Date:
17 April 2025
Appeared in issue:
323 - 01 May 2023
Sanctions - measured effect
Less nuclear strike, more grinding offensive, sanctions at scale aim to drive the other side to negotiate, but they can only ever be as effective as their weakest enforcer. Where realpolitik - my enemy's enemy is my friend - and national economic interests combine their efficacy is starkly in question. Keith Nuthall, Paul Cochrane & Dylan Carter explore the impact of sustained programmes targeted at Russia and Iran.
Online Published Date:
17 April 2025
Appeared in issue:
323 - 01 May 2023