SIRAJUDDIN HAQQANI, LEADER OF HAQQANI NETWORK, LINKED TO TALIBAN AND AQ

POLICE RAID FBME BANK IN CYPRUS IN A MONEY LAUNDERING INVESTIGATION

 
Cypriot Police conducted a raid upon the offices of FBME Bank* in Nicosia and Limassol, as a part of a money laundering investigation. Documents were searched,and computer servers duplicated. No arrests were made. The bank is also listed with facilities in Tanzania and in Russia. 

The bank was designated by FinCEN as a Financial Institution of "Primary Money Laundering Concern" in 2014, and US banks are prohibited from having any dealings or financial contacts with it. The bank was linked to money laundering, organized crime, sanctions evasion, proliferation of weapons PEP corruption, and other financial crimes.

FBME was fined  €1.2 by the Central Bank for money laundering violations in 2015.

______________________________________________________________________________
* Formerly known as Federal Bank of Lebanon, and Federal Bank of the Middle East.

GOVERNMENT MOVES TO DISMISS RICHARD CHICHAKLI'S CIVIL SUIT

The US Government has filed a motion to dismiss the action filed against it by Richard Chichakli, which asserts that a large portion of his valuable personal property, which was seized by US law enforcement, was lost, stolen or destroyed. The issues presented appear in the Argument below, which is taken from the Motion to Dismiss:

 

The plaintiff has responded to the Government's Argument in  Plaintiff's Response to Defendant's Motion to Dismiss.   His points:

(1) Plaintiff exhausted the FITCA administrative procedure.
(2) This Court has proper jurisdiction over Plaintiff's Taking claim.
(3) This Court has jurisdiction over Chichakli's post-sanctions Fourth and Fifth Amendment claims.

When the court enters a ruling upon the motion, we shall update our readers accordingly.



  

WILL YOUR BANK CLIENTS BE ON CHINA'S NEW ECONOMIC BLACKLIST ?

The Peoples' Republic of China, openly upset over the American export ban against telecom giant Huawei, has advised that it has an "Unreliable Entity List" in preparation. This blacklist which will consist of companies, individuals and entities that China asserts are blocking its national interests.

Whether China is using Huawei for espionage purposes abroad is unknown, notwithstanding the claims of the Trump Administration, but your bank clients could find themselves abruptly placed upon the Chinese Blacklist, and suffer immediate economic losses, including unpaid invoices and accounts payable, blocked deliveries of goods, blocked wire transfers, and even interference with letters of credit and seizure of local accounts.

Arrests of corporate officers who happen to be in China on the date when the blacklist is published is also a concern, given the unlawful arrest of Canadian nationals, after Canada detained the Huawei CFO, on an American arrest warrant. Those not detained could be prevented from exiting China, which is a favorite Chinese pressure tactic.

Compliance officers at American banks would be well advised to closely monitor the situation, first assessing whether any bank clients have outstanding exposure in China, including human resources located there, and consulting with legal counsel in the event the bank itself is deemed to have any financial exposure. 

SHAYKH AMINULLAH, FINANCIER FOR AQ, LeT AND TALIBAN

MEXICO ISSUES ARREST WARRANT FOR MONEY LAUNDERING FOR FORMER PEMEX CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Former PEMEX Chief Executive Emilio Lozoya Austin is wanted in a major money laundering investigation in Mexico. Lozoya allegedly received a $10m bribe in the Odebrecht scandal.  An INTERPOL Red Notice (arrest warrant) has been issued against Lozoya. No formal charges have yet been filed.

The maximum penalty under Mexican law is fifteen years. Lozoya was previously a close aide to former Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto.

READ WISCONSIN'S NEW MONEY LAUNDERING BILL

Compliance officers in the Midwest will want to review this new bill. Chapter 946 amendments are here.

PRIME MINISTER REPORTS THAT CANADIAN BANKS WANT TO PULL OUT OF ANTIGUA

 
In a recent public interview, Gaston Browne, the prime minister of Antigua & Barbuda, stated that it is his understanding that all the Canadian financial institutions that have facilities in Antigua want to pull them out of the country. He made that statement when discussing the situation with Scotia Bank, which has entered into a contract to sell its Antigua branch to a Trinidad bank; Browne wants local businessmen and banks to have a right of first refusal on the sale, before regulatory approval is granted. He also wants that right on any additional bank sales.

While we have no independent confirmation of Browne's statement, increased de-risking actions, where North American banks remove their correspondent relationships from banks located in Caribbean states, and increasing pressure from onshore regulators regarding exposure to money laundering and terrorist financing could be the reason. If the Canadian banks in Antigua cease operating there, Country Risk could increase, as none of the local banks have the financial strength of the Canadians, nor the reputation.

ABDULLAH AHMED ABDULLAH; US EMBASSY BOMBINGS $10M REWARD

READ DONALD TRUMP'S SELECTIVE SERVICE RECORD; HOW HE DODGED THE DRAFT

When Donald Trump graduated from college in the summer of 1968, the Selective Service was drafting military-age males for the Vietnam War. We all know the story, from Michael Cohen, about how Trump's father got a Podiatrist who was a tenant in one of his buildings to say he had bone spurs on his feet, so that he could evade serving his country.

 At first, Trump lied and said he received a high Draft Lottery number, but that program did exist until December 1969, so he then admitted that his deferment was achieved due to a physician's note. Michael Cohen repeatedly asked Trump to produce that information, but Trump never showed it to him. The doctor's children said recently he did that as a favor to Trump's father, not as a medical opinion. The doctor reportedly received favorable rent contracts for years after that.

the records show Trump, finished with his student deferments, receiving a 1-S status, which meant that he could only be called to serve during a national emergency or a time of  war, neither of which
was declared by Congress during the Vietnam era. later, he received a 4-F deferment, which means totally unfit for service. Enlarge the document to see Trump's Selective Service history. He can be found under Line Number 580.

HAVE YOU FOUND THE DEUTSCHE BANK NOMINEE COMPANY REGLA LTD. IN YOUR RECORDS ?

Credit: ICIJ

Inasmuch as the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) is blowing its top over Deutsche Bank's dodgy activities, on behalf of wealthy clients, you might want to search your bank client records, to determine whether the bank's favorite nominee director subsidiary, REGLA LTD., appears anywhere.

Regla Ltd. was the bank's vehicle of choice, when it came to acting as front man for clients with "privacy" (read tax evasion or worse) issues. It functioned as the director du jour when necessary, and was also use to make beneficial ownership totally opaque. Should you find this firm in your files,  it is recommended tat you seek the advice of competent legal counsel, preferably outside the bank, to conduct a proper investigation.

HASAN IZZ-AL-DIN, HEZBOLLAH AIRCRAFT HIJACKER AND MURDERER OF US MILITARY

UKRAINE'S GOVERNMENT-OWNED PRIVATBANK SUES ITS FORMER OWNERS FOR MONEY LAUNDERING AND FRAUD

Privatbank, the publicly-owned (failed and later nationalized) Ukrainian bank that was the country's largest lender, has filed a civil suit, in state court in the State of Delaware, alleging that the bank's former owners, reputed oligarchs Ihor Kolomoyskiy and Hennadiy Boholyubov, committed money laundering and fraud, looting billions from the bank.

The plaintiff bank asserts that the defendants misappropriated loan proceeds, and used American accounts and corporations to launder hundreds of millions of dollars. Suit was filed in the Court of Chancery which has jurisdiction over Equity issues. The defendants have not yet responded to the action, nor made any public statements regarding their defenses.

AL QAEDA IN THE ARABIAN PENINSULA LEADERS WANTED BY UNITED STATES

DO CBI PASSPORTS MAKE THE USE OF FACIAL RECOGNITION SOFTWARE BY COMPLIANCE OFFICERS MANDATORY ?

 We all know that many law enforcement agencies, as well as the intelligence services, around the world, use the best facial recognition software systems available, the one that maintain their own image libraries, and also search social media, social networking and Internet resources, to identify suspects who are targets of an investigation, and whose images have been acquired, but whose identities are unknown.

The recent explosion of legitimate sales of citizenship, and passports, by European and East Caribbean states, has resulted in the availability of valid passports, from jurisdictions not completely tainted by rampant narcotics trafficking, state-sponsored terrorism or excessive corruption. Unfortunately, these Citizenship By Investment (CBI or CIP) passports can often be purchased with bogus, counterfeit or altered personal identification documents, resulting in a totally clean alias for the holder.

Any inquiry directed to the jurisdiction where the holder acquired the CBI passport will only result in confirmation of the carefully-crafted alias identity; often valid identity documents from the holder's home country are obtained, due to local corruption, making accurate identification from that quarter generally impossible.

Therefore, it is up to the compliance officer to link the new bank client's image to his true and correct identity, This is accomplished by accessing only those advanced facial recognition software programs that maintain a large private internal database of images, and also search all relevant social media and social networking resources, plus Internet sites, and other image databases.

Is your new bank client who his passport says he is ? Not only will a good facial recognition software system search return not only your target's true identity, but his occupation or profession. Since we assign high risk factors to Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), a target who has concealed his PEP status must be identified as such; facial recognition software programs ferret out even those PEPs who have artfully concealed their true position.

Should compliance directors at international banks now require their front line new accounts staff, as a matter of policy, to run all new high net-worth foreign clients through facial recognition software programs, to positively verify client identity ? We think that the answer should already be obvious; you cannot afford not to do it.

REMEMBERING THE 58,220 AMERICAN SOLDIERS, SAILORS, AIRMEN & MARINES WHO DIED IN VIETNAM

If we forget the lessons of history, we are doomed to repeat them; Wise words for 2019.

CREDIT SUISSE BANKER PLEADS GUILTY IN NEW YORK TO MONEY LAUNDERING

Datelina Subeva

Datelina Subeva, A former Credit Suisse Group AG banker, entered a guilty plea this week,  in US District Court in New York, to assisting in a massive $2bn money laundering and kickback scheme in Mozambique. Subeva, a Bulgarian national who says she is a Princeton graduate, pled to one count of Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering.

According to published reports, there was a $372m loan to state-owned entities in Mozambique, with a $1m kickback, $200m of which she laundered through her own bank account. There are seven other defendants in the case, including two other Credit Suisse bankers, (who are fighting extradition from the UK) and the former Finance Minister of Mozambique. Subeva came voluntarily to the United States; she has been released on bail, which is a good indication that she intends to cooperate with the authorities.

This case, and previous matters that we have reported on, causes us to ask the question: is there a culture of corruption and the facilitation of money laundering at Credit Suisse, in its London office ? 

READ REPORT OF US INSPECTOR GENERAL ON ISIS, TALIBAN AND LeT IN AFGHANISTAN

A new report, by the Department of Defense office of Inspector General, details terrorist operations in Afghanistan. The direct threats posed by Lashkar e-Taiba (LeT), to US Armed Forces, are the most pronounced, followed by the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM); there are also nineteen other active terrorist organizations operating in the country.

Titled Quarterly Report to the United States Congress;  Lead Inspector General for Operation's Freedom's Sentinel, the report may be accessed here. 

MUHAMMAD AHMED AL-MUNIWAR, PALESTINIAN HIJACKER, $5m REWARD

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MEMBERS CALL FOR TERMINATION OF EU VISA WAIVER PROGRAM FOR ST KITTS & NEVIS

Two members of the European Parliament, in a letter to senior EP leadership, have called for the termination of the existing EU visa waiver program for St Kitts & Nevis, citing a number of SKN passport holders, who acquired their Kittitian nationality through the Citizenship by Investment program, who are known to be career criminals, either currently wanted by the authorities, or already under arrest for white collar crimes. 

They have a point. The Malaysian (1MDB) fugitive, Jho Low, and the Iranian banker known as Ali Sadr Hasheminejad (Pilatus Bank) are both named as holders of SKN CBI passports. The Russian national Andrei Pavlov, accused of criminal activity, appears to have been barred from EU entry, but he used his St Kitts CBI passport to enter the EU more than 30 times. The fact that Canada dropped St kitts & Nevis from their visa waiver program is also cited ion support of their position.

 The complete text of their letter follows here:

PRESIDENT OF PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN FOOTBALL CLUB UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR CORRUPTION

Nasser Al-Khekaifi, the president of the Paris Saint-Germain football club has been placed under investigation for suspected corruption, as part of a five-year corruption inquiry; PSG is owned by Qatar. Al-Khelaifi is also chairman of of beIN Sports, and on the executive committee of UEFA.

Al-Khelaifi has been linked to a major role in making illicit payments designed to assist Qatar to host track & field world championship events. A suspicious payment of $3.5m was made days before Doha was approved, over London, as IAAF world champion event host. Al-Khelaifi's attorney alleges that the payment was for commercial broadcast rights to the event.

RECENT MAJOR GLOBAL MONEY LAUNDERING FINES

READ THE FEDERAL COURT ORDER BLOCKING BORDER WALL FUNDS

If you are following the case where the Sierra Club sued the President to block his used of restricted Federal funds to build a border wall on the frontier with Mexico, you can read the court order blocking the use of those funds here.

ADNAN EL SHUKRIJUMAH, SENIOR AL-QAEDA LEADER WANTED FOR FAILED NYC PLOT

AFTER SUPPORTING ALEX MORAN AS ITS "ECONOMIC ENVOY," ANTIGUA DUMPS HIM AND LIES ABOUT HIS DIPLOMATIC STATUS

When the news broke about the arrest in Colombia, on money laundering charges, of Alex Saab Morán's accountant and auditor, Antigua's Foreign Ministry affirmed his diplomatic status as" Economic Envoy," and placed an article in Caribbean media to the effect that Saab had personally denied that he was a money launderer, and that his arrested associates would be released, and the matter dropped. The article was an obvious piece of damage control, designed to raise questions of fact and issues of law about Saab, so that the impact of damaging news that Antigua is selling diplomatic passports to dodgy buyers would be minimized.   

When it became public knowledge that Saab had indeed been indicted in the Republic of Colombia, Antigua very quietly distanced itself from the accused Colombian money launderer. It also evaded the fact that it had admitted he had been issued a diplomatic passport, by asserting that he did not have one, only a CBI passport, and that he was NOT a diplomat on behalf of Antigua. Any compliance officer with a bare minimum of skills know that Saab should never been issued any type of Antiguan passport, due to his well-known illicit activities on behalf of the Maduro regime, especially the country's president

Saab remains a fugitive from justice; his whereabouts are unknown, though three countries, including the United States, are seeking to arrest him. His Antigua-domiciled offshore bank, his close relationship with one of Antigua's major local banks, and his known friendship with the Prime Minister, all will be exposed, should he tried for his crimes. We wonder how Antigua will spin that information.

COUNCIL OF EUROPE DRAFT REPORT ON MALTA IS A MUST READ FOR COMPLIANCE OFFICERS

If you or your bank clients have any business in Malta, with Maltese banks, or its government, you will want to read the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights draft report on the Galizia assassination ans the Rule of Law. It covers the rampant corruption that infects the island, which shares the shortcomings of many of the "Banana Republics," but is within the European Union, which makes it an attractive target for money launderers, terrorist financiers, and every type of white collar criminals.

Read the draft report here..

NIGERIAN FEDERAL JUDGE FACING MONEY LAUNDERING AND CORRUPTION CHARGES SEEKS DISMISSAL ON PROCEDURAL GROUNDS

Attorneys for former Justice of the Federal High Court Nigeria Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia have filed motions to dismiss the money laundering and corruption case pending against her, on several grounds. The eighteen counts filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission include Conspiracy, Money Laundering, Unlawful Enrichment, and Retention of the Proceeds of Crime.

The issues presented by defense counsel :

(1) The Court did not have jurisdiction, as the defendant had not been dismissed from her position as a judge, and there was no order published confirming that act.
(2) The dismissal without prejudice of a prior case against this defendant operated as a bar to this action.
(3) The criminal charges are not valid.

The Defendant has entered a not guilty plea. Defense motions will be heard on May 31.

ALI SAED BIN ALI EL-HOORIE, WANTED KHOBAR TOWERS SAUDI HEZBOLLAH LEADER

POLICE IN DOMINICA TO GET TANKS FROM CHINA; WILL STATE OF EMERGENCY BE DECLARED TO CANCEL UPCOMING ELECTIONS ?

Roseau, Dominica 2020 ?

If you have not seen the video being circulated on the Internet, it shows heavily armed paramilitary police, dressed in camouflage battledress uniforms, arriving at a peaceful Opposition election rally in the East Caribbean state of Dominica recently. They were carrying assault rifles, obviously to intimidate the attendees, all of whom were unarmed.

China reportedly has shipped tanks to the Commonwealth of Dominica Police, to supplement the armored cars it previously received. Local Opposition leaders and activists openly fear that an incident will be created at a future gathering, and that thereafter Dominica's Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, will declare a State of Emergency, and cancel upcoming national elections.

The existence of a State of Emergency could result in the arrest of Opposition leaders, as well as their supporters, and they could be imprisoned without trial. It could also involve the seizure of assets and property, including media outlets that have exposed official corruption, as well as the detention of journalists. Compliance officers whose clients are dealing with financial institutions in Dominica should presume that the current government will then be in total control of local bank compliance procedures, and efforts to place or launder the proceeds of corruption will occur without any AML interference.     

DEUTSCHE BANK BLAMES "FAULTY SOFTWARE" FOR NOT FINDING SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY IN CUSTOMER TRANSACTIONS

Deutsche Bank has blamed its massive money laundering activities on faulty software that it used to screen customer transactions for suspicious activity. We wonder how long the bank knew that its software was defective, and why it did not remove, and replace that software the moment its ineffective nature was suspected, let alone known. What's wrong with this picture ?

And what about its statement that no suspicious transactions slipped through compliance, as the result of the allegedly defective software ? How did the bank know that no dirty money was accepted, and transited the bank, if the software was defective ? How could the bank know this ?

Any compliance officer who read this information knows that the excuse proffered by the bank is completely bogus. We wish the bank's shareholders well in their quest to remove bank management, for those senior executives should be held accountable for their sins and transgressions.

IS ANTIGUA SEEKING TO EXTRACT STILL MORE MONEY FROM ITS CBI PASSPORT HOLDERS ?

The Government of Antigua & Barbuda has, by official notice, which appears below, has advised all parties who hold Antiguan passports, that they will now expire on December 31. The current passports, which are machine-readable, will all be replaced by e-passports, which feature a chip containing the individuals identification information. Most of the developed world uses e-passports for security purposes.

The problem is that, when a significant technological change is made to identity documents, they are generally upgraded upon expiration in an individual basis; they are not universally recalled, unless they are defective. Antigua has a large number of Citizenship by Investment (CBI/CIP) passports, sold to foreign nationals. Is this "upgrade," which could have been made at any time during the past decade, a ploy to hit the CBI passport holders for yet another large fee ? We cannot say, but a number of individuals who live in Antigua suspect that the hidden agenda here is to collect additional, and frankly exorbitant, fee once more from the wealthy CBI clients.

Another faction in Antigua believes that the passport upgrade is a tactic to allow the government to remove any CBI passport holders who might now be engaged in any dodgy activities that would damage Antigua's international reputation. The upgrade provides a way to cull out any passport holders whose eventual arrest abroad might again focus unwanted attention upon Antigua as a jurisdiction of choice for fraudsters and sanctions evaders.

The Law of Unintended Consequences also applies; This action will assist in anti-money laundering investigations. We will be closely watching who actually appears in Antigua, to exchange their passport for the upgraded version, whether they hail from the Middle East, Asia, Africa, or from sanctioned countries,which will serve to identify individuals most likely engaged in activities that may violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or the Bribery Act, or corruption laws in other countries. Compliance officers need those names for risk management purposes, and law enforcement agencies may want to open investigations into their nationals who are found to hold CBI passports without any normal business purpose. 

SAIR AL-ADEL, WANTED FOR US EMBASSY BOMBINGS IN AFRICA

MALAYSIA CONTINUES TO ASSIST IRAN IN EVADING OIL SANCTIONS

Our readers are  familiar with the story of how the Iranian oil trader, Alireza Monfared, working out of the Malaysian tax haven of Labuan, parked oil tankers loaded with contraband oil just offshore, while his partners, Reza Zarrab and Babak Zanjani, bartered gold for contraband oil.

Monfared, who later went rogue, and attempted to cheat justice by hiding out in Dominica, is now in an Iranian prison, but Malaysia, using other proxies and agents, continues to aid Iran in vending its sanctioned oil. Reports from the Far East have confirmed that the number of Iranian-origin oil tankers either located in adjacent waters, or steaming in that direction, vastly exceeds Malaysia's national requirements. Obviously, there are new Iranian agents at work, but the scheme continues.

Malaysia and Iran have a long history of cooperation, from the use of five Islamic banks in Malaysia by Iranians engaged in sanctions evasion, to the training of Palestinian terrorists, sponsored by Iran, there. Unfortunately, as a nominal ally of the West, its pro-Iranian stance has been pointedly ignored, but with the zero export position, regarding Iranian oil, taken by the Trump Administration, Malaysia may soon find itself at odds with the US. Will OFAC sanction its activities ? 

READ THE CONFIDENTIAL IRS MEMO IN RELEASE OF TAX RETURNS TO CONGRESS

If you have been seeing news about a 10-page IRS memorandum opinion that requires the Treasury Department to release President Trump's tax returns to the US Congress here.