The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has announced new efforts to crack down on Business Email Compromise (BEC) schemes and those who profit from such scams. BEC fraud schemes generally involve attempts to compromise the email accounts of victims to send fraudulent payment instructions to financial institutions or business associates in order to
Fox Rothschild Attorneys to Speak at Federal Bar Association’s 2019 Tax Law Conference
Fox attorneys Ian M. Comisky and Matthew D. Lee will be speaking on criminal tax enforcement panels at the Federal Bar Association’s 2019 Tax Law Conference to be held on March 7-8, 2019, in Washington, D.C.
Ian will be leading a panel entitled “International Hot Topics in Tax Enforcement” which will seek to answer this
Hot Topics in Tax and Money Laundering Viewed Through the Lens of United States v. Paul Manafort
On November 16, 2018, Matthew D. Lee will moderate a panel at the annual White Collar Practice seminar sponsored by the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. With the Special Counsel’s high-profile indictments of Paul Manafort as context, Matt’s panel will address the latest developments in tax and money laundering cases, with a particular emphasis
FinCEN Quietly Extends Real Estate Geographic Targeting Orders for Another Six Months
Breaking from its recent practice of making public announcements about Geographic Targeting Orders, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) last month quietly extended its real estate GTOs for another six months. The new expiration date is September 16, 2018. FinCEN’s move to continue the GTOs a fourth time suggests that the orders are
Treasury Official Warns of Risks to Financial System Posed by Illicit Use of Virtual Currencies
In a recent speech, the Under Secretary of Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI) warned of the growing threats to the U.S. financial system posed by virtual currencies. Addressing the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s Anti-Money Laundering & Financial Crimes Conference, Sigal Mandelker spoke broadly of the U.S. government’s efforts to
Professional Racecar Driver, Convicted of Payday Lending Fraud in New York, Now Faces Tax Charges in Kansas Along With His Accountant
Barely two months after being convicted of running a billion dollar illegal payday lending enterprise, professional racecar driver Scott Tucker was indicted today by a grand jury on federal charges of failing to report millions in income from that business. Also indicted today was Tucker’s accountant, who is charged with aiding in Tucker’s filing of
Transnational Criminal Organizations Increasingly Using Bitcoin as Money Laundering Vehicle
In its recently-published 2017 National Drug Threat Assessment (NDTA), the Drug Enforcement Administration reports that drug trafficking organizations are turning to Bitcoin and other virtual currencies to enable easy transfer of illicit funds internationally. The NDTA is a comprehensive strategic assessment of the threat posed to the United States by domestic and international drug trafficking
FinCEN Warns U.S. Financial Institutions of Venezuelan Money Laundering Threat
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued an advisory to alert financial institutions of widespread public corruption in Venezuela and the methods Venezuelan senior political figures and their associates may use to move and hide proceeds of their corruption through the U.S. financial system. The advisory also describes a number of financial
FinCEN’s Revised GTOs Expand Real Estate Money Laundering Crackdown to Hawaii, Close “Wire Transfer” Loophole
This article is Part I of a series in which we address the U.S. government’s attempts to combat money laundering in real estate transactions.
This week the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced that it was both extending and broadening its anti-money laundering efforts in the luxury real estate area to capture a
FinCEN Issues Marijuana Banking Update
Over at the In The Weeds blog (which explores developments in cannabis law and business), Melissa T. Sanders writes about the recent publication by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of its “Marijuana Banking Update.” In this publication, FinCEN summarizes the number of depository institutions providing banking services to marijuana-related businesses in