Why FinCEN Should Quickly Establish Regulations for the New AML Whistleblower Program

The nascent AML whistleblower program promises to boost enforcement in a difficult area, but FinCEN must swiftly develop regulations to ensure that it launches the program in the most robust way possible. Created by the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (AMLA), passed as part of the FY21 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the program went into immediate effect.  Motivated by retaliation protections and the potential for rewards, whistleblowers ready to...

Project Proposes Legislative Action to Protect and Incentivize AML Whistleblowers

Offshore Alert and the Association of Certified Financial Crime Specialists were joined by Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Lawyers Poppy Alexander, Eric Havian, and Michael Ronickher in developing a proposal to enact legislation that would create statutory incentives and protections for whistleblowers with information about money laundering. The proposal, unveiled on May 25, 2020, was developed in response to a challenge in the FT Innovative Lawyers Global Legal Hackathon to figure out ways...

The Need for Whistleblowers in AML Enforcement

Banking Exchange publishes article by Eric Havian and Michael Ronickher.  Click here to read the article.

BankThink: AML enforcement needs more whistleblowers

Whistleblower attorneys Eric Havian and Michael Ronickher published in the American Banker (Jan. 7, 2019).

Constantine Cannon Partner Gordon Schnell Published in Automotive News on Whether NHTSA Will Finally Take Its Auto Safety Whistleblower Program Seriously

On February 12, Automotive News published an OpEd piece by Constantine Cannon whistleblower partner Gordon Schnell calling for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to step up its whistleblower game.  It was prompted by the agency's recent release of its long-awaited rules governing the auto safety whistleblower program, which provides financial awards to whistleblowers for reporting auto safety issues to the agency. According to Schnell, "The problem is that...

Top 10 Whistleblower Awards for 2024

It was another big year for whistleblowers under the various whistleblower rewards programs that provide whistleblowers with a share of the government's recovery from enforcement actions they initiate or otherwise support.  The two most prolific rewards programs are the False Claims Act and the SEC Whistleblower Program, each of which provides successful whistleblowers with up to 30% of the government's recovery.  As in past years, the bulk of this year's...

Five of the Top AML Enforcement Actions by FinCEN

The Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (“AMLA”) significantly strengthened whistleblower protections and incentives by establishing the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) Whistleblower Program. Before the AMLA, FinCEN could receive tips but lacked the authority to offer financial rewards. The AMLA changed this by allowing whistleblowers to receive rewards amounting to 10-30% of penalties collected in enforcement actions over $1 million. Congress enacted the AMLA in response to the recognized need...

Alleged AML failures at Visa and Mastercard: Card Companies Accused of Processing Payments for Child Sexual Abuse Content

On January 24, Reuters reported that a whistleblower filed a complaint with the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Unit, or FinCEN, alleging Visa and Mastercard had failed to stop payment networks from laundering money from child sexual abuse material and sex trafficking on the porn-centric creator platform, OnlyFans. According to Reuters and CBS, the whistleblower filed the complaint in January 2023 with FinCEN and Homeland Security departments. The complaint...

Top 10 Most Fascinating Whistleblower Stories and Recoveries of 2024

We’re rolling out our slew of Top-10 lists covering whistleblower cases, government enforcement actions, and recoveries from 2024. Over the past year, we engaged with a vast number of interesting topics, government updates, and fraud settlements originated by whistleblowers, several represented by Constantine Cannon. As we look back at 2024, we’ve gathered some of the most fascinating whistleblower news and settlements on which we've previously reported. Scroll through to check...

Another Tragic Whistleblower Death - OpenAI Whistleblower Suchir Balaji

As widely reported in the press last week, former OpenAI researcher and whistleblower Suchir Balaji, 26, died by suicide a few weeks ago. The San Francisco police found his body on November 26 after they were called to his apartment prompted by concerns of his wellbeing. Sadly, Balaji adds to the list of whistleblowers who have died this past year amid their efforts to expose what they saw as serious...