WHEN USING FOREIGN NEWS ARTICLES FOR ENHANCED DUE DILIGENCE, USE PRESS FREEDOM CHART TO ASCERTAIN RELIABILITY OF INFORMATION

If you are a compliance officer conducting an enhanced due diligence inquiry on a new prospective foreign bank client, and you are accessing media from his or her country, one of the ways you can judge whether the material you find is reliable (or truthful) is the degree of pres freedom in that nation.

Here is the latest Press Freedom Chart; with it, you may ascertain the extent of press freedom that exists in the client's country. Given that many non-democratic nations either censor news about corruption among government officials, or PEPs, or self-censorship is practiced by press in other with similar totalitarian governments, you may use the chart to validate the level of accuracy of negative  information you obtain from that country.

Alternatively, where there is absolutely nothing available about your client, from a non-democratic jurisdiction, you may not draw the conclusion he or she is clean. You then must seek out information from other sources, in countries known for press freedom, and lack of government interference in media coverage.

Sometimes, even this chart and your other public sources are not helpful; in that case, you must entertain whether non-public sources must be enlisted to get to the truth about your new, affluent and promising, client.

READ THE 107-PAGE PRIVATBANK COMPLAINT AGAINST FORMER OWNERS FOR MONEY LAUNDERING AND FRAUD

If you read our recent article, Ukraine's Government-owned Privatbank Sues its Former Owners for Money Laundering and Fraud, you may want to read the 107-page Verified Complaint. You may access the complete text here.

JAMAL SAEED ABDUL RAHIM, PALESTINIAN HIJACKER

CORRUPT PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY OFFICIALS FUNDING HAMAS IN MALAYSIA

Reports from Israel confirm that corrupt senior Palestinian Authority officials are moving PA funds to Malaysia, where they are used for Hamas terrorist training there. The money, obviously diverted from Authority accounts, is laundered through Dubai, and thereafter into Malaysia.

The senior PA leaders named as players in the terrorist financing operation are:

(1) Dr. Mahmoud Al-Habash, the Supreme Sharia Judge of the Palestinian Authority; he also holds the titles of PA leader Mahmoud Abbas Adviser on Religious and Islamic Affairs, and Chairman of the Supreme Council for Sharia Justice. He is said to have formed shell companies for the movement of the proceeds of corruption  out of the West Bank, through Dubai and to Malaysia. His bureau chief is listed as Khaled Barude. Hamash is known to be display a violently anti-American perspective.

Habash

(2) The Ambassador of the Palestinian Authority to Malaysia Anwar Al-Agha. His now ex-wife reportedly divorced him when she discovered he was using her as an officer in his shell companies without her knowledge and consent.

Al-Agha

(3) These two conspirators are linked to Hamas member Fatah Al-Nuri, a businessman now living in Algeria, and Yasser Abbas, the son of Mahmoud Abbas; these two individuals are also involved in terrorist financing. Another close associate is the PA Ambassador to the Sudan, Abed Al-FatahAl-Satri.

The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, who is known to have close links to Hamas,is presumed to be facilitating Hamas operations, and providing material support to Hamas, which is a global terrorist organization.

We have previously reported on Hamas military training camps in Malaysia; we now know how they are financed.

FRAUDSTER SENTENCED TO EIGHTEEN YEARS FOR IMPERSONATING SAUDI PRINCE IN $8m SCAM

 
Anthony Gignac, whose convincing impersonation of a Saudi Prince allowed him to fleece investors of over eight million dollars, was sentenced this week, in a Miami courtroom, to eighteen years in Federal Prison. Gignac, who scam came complete with fake diplomatic license plates, bogus DSS identification for his "bodyguards," all the the trappings of a billionaire, used these tools to trap willing investors into paying him for non-existent global projects.

The "investments" he offered included participation in Saudi Aramco, the government-owned oil company, casinos, a pharmaceutical company, and hotels. all of which were fictional. Gignac used the money to live an opulent, private jet, luxury car existence, including a pricey unit on Miami's exclusive Fisher Island. He is a resident of South Florida.

Readers who wish to learn more details can access the Department of Justice press release here.

READ NEW OFAC TERRORIST ASSETS REPORT

The 2018 OFAC Terrorist Assets Report was just released on the Treasury website. You may review the complete text here.

MUHAMMAD ABDULLAH KHALIL HUSSAIN AR-RAHAYYAL, PALESTINIAN HIJACKER

SERVING 660 YEARS FOR LAUNDERING MONEY FOR CALI CARTEL, HE SEEKS COMPASSIONATE RELEASE

Attorneys for Stephen Saccoccia, who is currently serving 660 years in Federal Prison for laundering narcotics profits for the Cali Cartel, have filed a motion in US District Court in Rhode Island, seeking compassionate release, pursuant to the new First Step Act,  a prison reform law which allows judges to release elderly nonviolent prisoners under extraordinary circumstances, especially if they have health problems.

Saccoccia, a former high school mathematics prodigy, reportedly laundered more than $135m for the cartel; he has already served twenty seven years. His sentence included a $16m fine, and forfeiture of $136m of assets. His wife was also convicted, but served only 14 years and was released fifteen years ago. Saccoccia received the maximum sentence permitted by law. His release date is October 17, 2567; he is presently at the Federal Penitentiary in Coleman, Florida.

The courts have previously denied Saccoccia the right to retain assets which were part of the forfeiture judgment. His assets included money held in safe deposit boxes abroad, and 83 gold bars, found buried behind the home of his mother.

The US Attorney in Rhode Island, who is disputing Saccoccia's claims of serious health problems, as well as his other grounds, is opposing release due to the seriousness of the crime, and has requested a delay to determine whether the warden at the prison where he is incarcerated actually received his request for release.

SHOULD COMPLIANCE OFFICERS CHECK SOCIAL MEDIA ON NEW FOREIGN CLIENTS ?

Now that the US State Department is requiring visa applicants to disclose their social media and email addresses, and given the current ability of foreign applicants for bank accounts to conceal their true identities, should bank compliance officers now also obtain social media and social networking information on new foreign clients, and employing a facial recognition software program, verify client identity, as well as check for potential PEP status or terrorist affiliation ?

If the US Government deems social media information to be so important that it now orders it to be divulged on visa applicants, that should convince compliance officers of its importance in the due diligence process. As a risk reduction tool, the verification of a new customer's true full legal name, using facial recognition on social media and other Internet resources, will greatly minimize the possibility that the client is using an alias, or is otherwise unsuitable for onboarding for a number of  important reasons.It will essentially rule out the client as high risk.

New accounts staff are advised to revise their account application forms to include social media user names, Internet websites and blogs, and any relevant social networking information, as an integral part of the customer identification procedure. Should you fail to do so, and money launderers, hidden PEPs, or terrorist financiers obtain accounts, and abuse them, compliance officers may be looking at a future finding of compliance malpractice, or regulatory action.

JUNE 4, 1989 TIENANMEN SQUARE BEIJING JUNE 4, 1987

READ FBI REPORT TO CONGRESS ON SHELL COMPANIES

Steven D'Antuono, the Acting Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division, gave an exensive Statement to the US Congress on May 21, 2019, entitled Combating Illicit Financing by Anonymous Shell Companies. We consider it recommended reading; you may access the complete text here.

ABDULLAH SHAIR KHAN, LINKED TO TALIBAN AND HAQQANI NETWORK

CHECK ALL INFORMATION ON IRAN AGAINST IRAN DISINFO

 
If you are depending, in any manner, on published or online information of Iran, in connection with your professional responsibilities, do not rely upon any data without independently verifying it through an objective source. The Internet is infected with disinformation sponsored by the Islamic Republic of Iran.

 We suggest the Iran Disinformation Project, which you can access here.

WHY ANTIGUA DEMANDS THAT DEPARTING CANADIAN BANKS LEAVE THEIR ACCOUNTS WITH LOCALS

The position of the government of Antigua & Barbuda, regarding the sale of departing Scotiabank to Trinidad-based Republic Financial, is simple: Give local Antigua banks a Right of First Refusal on the sale of the branch. Scotiabank is selling several of its Caribbean holdings to Republic, Antigua included.

It has gone even further than one bank.This Right of First Refusal, according to Antigua PM Gaston Browne, should be available on all the remaining Canadian banks' local branches, and Browne claims that they all currently want to exit Antigua. We note that there is no evidence or public statements to support his statement.

While the professed reason is to protect the Scotiabank accounts of Antiguans, and to allow local banks to earn the profits those accounts produce, there is a much darker reason. Many Antiguans know that corruption lurks just below the surface, and should have concerns:

(1) Senior government officials in Antigua are known to demand, and receive, illegal gratuities from local businesses, including banks. Sometimes. they even demand bank stock, to be held by front men.
(2) PEPs in Antigua often receive loans from local banks, which it is understood will never be repaid; these situations  constitute bribes. This will deplete bank resources, reserves for bad debts, and threaten bank solvency.
(3) One local bank is known to be laundering criminal proceeds from Venezuela, and other local banks may also be involved. If OFAC sanctions those banks, blocking access to the American financial system, bank failure is the generally-accepted outcome.
(4) The unfolding scandal involving Syrian nationals, with Antigua CBI passports, assisting Iran in evading international sanctions, also could result in targeting the banks facilitating terrorist financing,, resulting in bank closure, under pressure from the United States or the United Kingdom.
(5) Have you forgotten Stanford Bank, which defrauded thousands of retirees and investors of billions of dollars ? Antigua's financial regulator, Leroy King, concealed the truth from US regulators for years; Antigua still refuses to extradite him, a decade later. Local banks have a history of failure, for one reason or another, and it is usually due to criminal activity.

Now, do you see why Antigua depositors at Scotiabank might not want to have their accounts transferred to a local bank, where they will be less secure than they might be if Republic became their new bank.

ARE CREDIT CARD ISSUERS ASSISTING CRYPTOCURRENCY MONEY LAUNDERING ?

When the big credit/debit/prepaid card companies facilitate the conversion of cryptocurrency into dollars, somewhere in a luxury suite, money launderers are celebrating. Crypto, by definition, is outside the regulated financial structure; if you allow dirty money, presently in the form of cryptocurrency, to be converted into dollars, in an existing bank account, the money laundering possibilities are infinite.

Please, VISA, MASTERCARD, DISCOVER, and all the smaller card issuers, do not allow holders of crypto to use your products to move the proceeds of crime through the world's banking system. It will only result in massive regulatory civil fines & penalties against those banks who are found to have laundered dirty money into the global financial structure.