The "travel rule" requires that firms engaged in money service businesses to share information about their customers and verify identities of customers. First issued in 1996, the travel rule (a know-your-customer (KYC) regulation) was expanded by FinCEN to apply to cryptocurrency in May of this year. FATF released guidelines in…
Today 23 years ago, on November 15th, 1996 I created Truth Technologies Inc. in Richmond, Virginia. Truth Technologies is the trailblazer in the development of AML compliance solutions. It was a bet on an uncertain but emerging opportunity: it was based on the belief that US regulators would increasingly combat…
The German Parliament has passed new regulations onto the upper house of Parliament, the Bundesrat. Rules involving anti-money laundering for auction houses, notaries, gold merchants, real estate agents, and more are planned to bring Germany in line with EU directives. Last year, Germany's government Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) found a…
Housing prices have been raising in Canada and the government believes that dirty money is to blame. British Columbia plans to fight back by introducing legislation that would bring a single regulator to real estate markets. Premier John Horgan has reported that more than $7 billion was washed through the…
On November 6th, Hugh Haney pled guilty to laundering more than $19 million through cyptocurrency. Anti-money laundering regulations have been working to enforce legislation on the possible malicious use of cryptocurrency almost since it's use became popular. Cryptocurrency anti-money laundering cases have recently included an individual charged for illegal use…
Valve, the developer of the popular video game Counterstrike, has taken steps to prevent money laundering in it's latest update to the game. Players of the multiplayer game Counterstrike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) can earn loot boxes containing cosmetic items for the game. These loot boxes would be "locked" against the…
Truth Technologies will be at the Caribbean Regional Compliance Association (CRCA) Conference in St. Lucia this week. Promoting the study, research, and development of compliance in the Caribbean, the CRCA Conference 2019 claims to be the "best Compliance conference, but with a Caribbean flavor.” With a variety of professional speakers,…
In a report by Transparency International UK (TIUK) analyzing over 400 corruption and money laundering cases, nearly 600 UK entities were identified as businesses or individuals that helped corrupt individuals move and defend ill-gotten gains. Many of these ill-gotten gains were paid to educational institutions, architectural & interior design firms,…
Aiming to fight financial crime in more than just financial institutions, a bill requiring arts and antiquities dealers to perform anti-money laundering (AML) checks is working it's way to the Senate. Similar in some ways to the EU's Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD), the Counter Act, Bill HR 2514 has…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently announced fines for BNP Paribas Securities Corp. and BNP Paribas Prime Brokerage, Inc. due to huge failures, both supervisory and operational, in their AML compliance program. FINRA is fining BNP $15 million and requiring that BNP fix their compliance problems within 90 days.…