THE MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT SIGNED BY THE FIVE EAST CARIBBEAN STATES SELLING CBI DOES NOT PROTECT AMERICAN BANKS FROM MONEY LAUNDERING

Much has been made of the supposed importance of the MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT, signed last year by the five EC states that offer Citizenship by Investment (CBI/CIP) programs. It supposedly binds the signatories to the USD$200,000 minimum uniform listed sales price, which should protect the US banks that maintain correspondent banking for the indigenous financial institutions who handle CBI payments, but a close look at the Agreement reveals that it is neither legally binding, nor intended to be as such.

When a contract boldly states that "This MOA is a Statement of Intent, and does not create legal obligations under international or domestic law. It does not constitute a legally binding agreement, and is not enforceable in any court of law" (Memorandum of Agreement at 4). It fails to create either any actual obligation or duty, and there's no means of enforcing any that might possibly exist. It is just a public relations ploy by nations caught with their hands in the financial cookie jar, trying to look good.

We are aware that illegally discounted sales are still occurring throughout the five CBI states. This means that the payments received in the US in the correspondent accounts of local Caribbean banks are all deposits of the Proceeds of Crime, and therefore acts of money laundering. American banks continue to be exposed to potential criminal charges for accepting those payments. I wonder how many compliance officers at those banks have read the Memorandum.