DO NOT FOR ONE MINUTE FORGET THAT ALEX SAAB MORAN OWNED TWO OFFSHORE BANKS IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF DOMINICA

As compliance officers keep close tabs on the unfolding developments in Alex Saab Moran's Eleventh Circuit appeal of the District Court's averse decision on the diplomatic immunity issue, do not lose sight of the fact that Saab's case is a criminal indictment, involving millions of dollars in criminal proceeds, moved by him from Venezuela, through Caribbean tax havens, in a massive money laundering operation.

On that note, it is important to remember that Alex Saab Moran owned two offshore banks in the Commonwealth of Dominica, which were instrumental in his money laundering operation. We have written about his banking operations in Dominica, which are an abject lesson in that island nation's utter failure to regulate and control its financial sector, in favour of dirty money flowing through it, in the Wash, Dry & Fold (Placement, Layering and Integration) pipeline that he operated.

From there, Saab acquired an offshore bank in Antigua & Barbuda, where he then funneled criminal proceeds into a local, indigenous bank, linked to Antigua's senior leaders, and thereafter abroad. We tend to focus on the most egregious aspects of a money launderer's criminal history, but the fact that Saab, a known money launderer, had carte blanche, complete freedom, to execute huge financial transactions in Dominica, with impunity, confirms the derisking actions of US banks towards financial institutions in that country as both prudent and necessary. Try to remember that the next time you see a wire transfer involving Dominica.