Money Laundering
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January 30, 2015
Maxim Chukharev, former information technology manager for Liberty Reserve, a company that operated one of the world’s most widely used digital currency services, was sentenced to 36 months in prison for conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. According to the government, Liberty Reserve billed itself as the Internet’s “largest payment processor and money transfer system” but instead was created, structured and operated to help users conduct illegal transactions anonymously and launder the proceeds of their crimes. According to court records, before being shut down by the government in May 2013, Liberty Reserve conducted approximately 55 million transactions through its system totaling more than $6B in funds which encompassed suspected proceeds of credit card fraud, identity theft, investment fraud, computer hacking, child pornography, narcotics trafficking and other crimes.DOJAugust 14, 2014
Azzeddine El Amine of Costa Rica pleaded guilty to money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business in connection with his role in running Liberty Reserve, a company that operated one of the world’s most widely used digital currency services. Liberty Reserve was created to help users conduct illegal transactions anonymously and launder the proceeds of their crimes, and it emerged as one of the principal money transfer agents used by cybercriminals around the world to distribute, store, and launder the proceeds of their illegal activity. El Amine served as a principal deputy to Liberty Reserve founder Arthur Budovsky. Before being shut down by the government in May 2013, Liberty Reserve had more than one million users worldwide, including more than 200,000 users in the United States, who conducted approximately 55 million transactions through its system and laundered more than $6 billion in suspected proceeds of crimes, including credit card fraud, identity theft, investment fraud, computer hacking, child pornography and narcotics trafficking. DOJDecember 22, 2015
Participants in an alleged credit card “laundering” scheme have agreed to settle FTC charges that they illegally helped provide access to payment networks, thereby enabling scammers to place bogus charges on consumers’ credit cards. According to the FTC’s complaint, PayBasics, Todd Hatch and Jimmy Shin helped the defendants behind the Tax Club fraud to open and maintain merchant accounts used to process credit card payments for sales made by a number of different third-party scammers. The defendants in the Tax Club work at home scheme settled FTC charges last year. FTCEuropean Parliament Resolution Provides Hope For The Possibility Of Financial Rewards For European Whistleblowers
Posted 12/11/15
By Richard Pike and Yulia Tosheva
On 25 November 2015, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on tax rulings which calls on the European Commission to propose, by June 2016, an EU legislative framework for the effective protection of whistleblowers.
The European Parliament:
Stresses that it is not acceptable that citizens and journalists can be subject to prosecution rather than legal protection when...
New York State Enforcement Spotlight -- Deutsche Bank
Posted 11/6/15
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
On Wednesday, the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) announced that Deutsche Bank will pay $258 million for New York Banking Law violations stemming from financial transactions it made on behalf of countries and entities subject to US sanctions. Specifically, the government found that from at least 1999 through 2006, Deutsche Bank conducted more than...
Whistleblower Spotlight – HSBC Whistleblower Hervé Falciani
Posted 02/19/15
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
This week’s “Whistleblower Spotlight” shines on HSBC whistleblower Hervé Falciani. Mr. Falciani blew the whistle in 2006 on HSBC Private Bank in Switzerland allegedly helping its wealthy customers avoid taxes and hide millions of dollars. He has been on the run from Swiss authorities since 2008, after they accused him of stealing data and violating bank secrecy laws by...
Government Ups the Ante for Financial Fraud With Criminal Charges Against UBS for LIBOR Misdeeds
Posted 12/27/12
By Gordon Schnell
It was just two weeks ago that the government slapped HSBC with a record $1.9 billion fine to settle charges of money laundering and dealing with terrorist states. As steep as the payment was, however, there seemed to be an overriding consensus that the government let the banking giant off easy by foregoing any criminal charges. To many, it was just the latest iteration of the...
Too Big to Prosecute? -- HSBC Pays Record Fine for "Aiding and Abetting Drug Lords and Terrorists" But Dodges Criminal Sanctions
Posted 12/17/12
By Gordon Schnell
The London-based mega-bank HSBC agreed last week to pay $1.9 billion to settle government charges that it violated the Bank Secrecy Act for facilitating money laundering by some of the world's nastiest drug cartels. The charges also included alleged violations of the Trading with the Enemy Act for the bank's improper dealings with a number of countries subject to international sanctions. Click...