Latvia is cracking down on financial crime by shutting down shell companies. Shell companies have little to no operations, but still may hold assets. Shell companies can be used to avoid know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) regulations and compliance. These shell companies allow individuals to hide behind anonymity and…

A 25-year-old man from California could face life in prison for several charges including failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program while operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Kunal Kalra, also known as “coinman”, operated a Bitcoin exchange and ATM that allowed criminals to exchange Bitcoins, oftentimes earned through…

The United Auto Workers (UAW) union have been in the news a lot lately due to their protests and negotiations with General Motors. Earlier this month, UAW was featured in the news for a different reason. Michael Grimes, a former UAW official, pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and…

In the past couple years, the European Union has experienced the fallout from multiple scandals relating to money laundering and corruption. In September 2018, a report was released that identified $229 billion worth of suspicious transactions that flowed through one Dankse Bank branch in Estonia. Dutch bank ING N.V. agreed…

Ladbrokes Coral, a British based gambling firm, has been fined £5.9m for a three-year lapse in which they did not follow anti-money laundering measures and did not protect customers. GVC Holdings bought Ladbrokes Coral in March 2018 and while the difficulties occurred between November 2014 and October 2017, the new…

Ellias Preko, a former Goldman Sachs investment banker, was served a confiscation order by the National Crime Agency (NCA) of the United Kingdom. Preko must pay 7.3 million pounds or face a 10-year jail sentence. After leaving Goldman Sachs Preko began to work for James Ibori, the former governor of…

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs(HMRC), a department of the United Kingdom responsible for regulatory regimes, has fined Touma Foreign Exchange Ltd almost ten million dollars for breaching money laundering regulations. This fine follows a crackdown in July where officers executed warrants at 12 separate addresses and arrested two men. HMRC…

German media have dubbed it "the biggest financial fraud trial" in Germany since WWII. Two British citizens are accused of using cum-ex transactions to defraud the German government out of almost $500 million dollars. The trial is ongoing in Bonn, Germany with the accused facing a 635-page charge sheet. Cum-ex…

HSBC has agreed to pay $336 million to settle a tax fraud dispute in Belgium after prosecutors alleged that HSBC committed tax fraud, forgery, money-laundering, and other illegal activities. In 2004, the European Union applied a tax on savings income and the prosecutors allege that HSBC aided wealthy clients in…