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A Huge Monetary Penalty for Sprawling Allegations – But Will Zhao Receive a Prison Sentence?

As the world now knows, Binance Holdings Limited, doing business as Binance.com (“Binance” or the “Company”), has entered into a plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”).  

Binance is registered in the Cayman Islands and regarded as the world’s largest virtual currency exchange. It agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to willfully violating the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) by failing to implement and maintain an effective anti-money laundering (“AML”) program; knowingly failing to register as a money services business (“MSB”); and willfully causing violations of U.S. economic sanctions issued pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (“IEEPA”). Despite the plea agreement, Binance will continue to operate.

Changpeng Zhao, also known as “CZ,” also pleaded guilty to violating the BSA by failing to implement and maintain an effective AML program. Zhao is Binance’s primary founder, majority owner, and – until now – CEO. As part of his plea agreement, Zhao has stepped down as the CEO, although he apparently will keep his shares in Binance.

As part of its plea agreement, Binance has agreed to forfeit $2,510,650,588 and to pay a criminal fine of $1,805,475,575 for a total criminal penalty of $4,316,126,163. Binance also entered into related civil consent orders with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), and the Office of Foreign Assets Controls (“OFAC”). Zhao also entered into a consent order with the CFTC.

The allegations are vast and detailed, and much digital ink already has been spilled regarding this matter. Our discussion therefore will be relatively high-level. Distilled, the government alleges that Binance – under the direction of Zhao – tried to hide the fact that it operated in the U.S., purposefully avoided any meaningful AML compliance, and consequently laundered many millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency involving extremely serious criminal conduct, including terrorism, child pornography, and U.S. sanctions evasion.

As for Zhao, and as we will discuss, whether he will go to prison – and if so, for how long – is an open and very interesting question. His sentencing currently is scheduled for February 23, 2024.…

Continue Reading  Binance Settles Criminal and Civil AML and Sanctions Enforcement Actions for Multiple Billions – While its Founder, Owner and Former CEO Zhao Pleads Guilty to Single AML Crime

Last week, FinCEN “communicated,” so to speak, to private industry, law enforcement, regulators, and legislators in three very different ways:  through a FY 2022 Year In Review infographic; a first-of-its kind enforcement action against a trust company; and in statements before the U.S. House of Representatives.  This post summarizes each of these developments, which are unified by the motif of FinCEN asserting that it has an increasing role in protecting the U.S. financial system against money laundering, terrorist financing and other illicit activity; providing critical data and analytical support to law enforcement agencies pursuing these goals; and simultaneously policing and trying to collaborate with private industry regarding these goals.…

Continue Reading  FinCEN Round Up:  FY 2022 in Review; First AML Enforcement Against a Trust Company; and Comments to Congress

On March 30, 3023, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a Financial Trend Analysis focusing on business email compromise (BEC) trends and patterns in the real estate sector (referred to as “RE BEC”). The report is required under Section 6206 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (AMLA). This section of AMLA requires FinCEN…

On February 14, 2023, both the American Bankers Association (“ABA”) and the Bank Policy Institute (“BPI”) submitted comments to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) on FinCEN’s notice of proposed rulemaking (“NPRM”) relating to access to beneficial ownership information (“BOI”) reported to FinCEN under the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”). While both organizations had similar comments, mainly being that the proposed limits on FIs’ ability to use BOI retrieved from the database contradicts the CTA’s objective, the ABA recommended that FinCEN entirely withdraw the NPRM. Below, we break down each organization’s comments and strong critiques regarding the NPRM.…

Continue Reading  Bank Industry Groups Heavily Criticize FinCEN’s Proposed Rule on Access to Beneficial Ownership Information

A Deep Dive Into FinCEN’s Latest Proposals Under the CTA

On December 16, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued a 54-page notice of proposed rulemaking (“NPRM”) regarding access by authorized recipients to beneficial ownership information (“BOI”) that will be reported to FinCEN under the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”).  The CTA requires covered entities – including most domestic corporations and foreign entities registered to do business in the U.S. – to report BOI and company applicant information to a database created and run by FinCEN upon the entities’ creation or registration within the U.S.  This database will be accessible by U.S. and foreign law enforcement and regulators, and to U.S. financial institutions (“FIs”) seeking to comply with their own Customer Due Diligence (“CDD”) compliance obligations, which requires covered FIs to obtain BOI from many entity customers when they open up new accounts.

In regards to this NPRM, FinCEN’s declared goal is to ensure that

(1) only authorized recipients have access to BOI; (2) authorized recipients use that access only for purposes permitted by the CTA; and (3) authorized recipients only redisclose BOI in ways that balance protection of the security and confidentiality of the BOI with furtherance of the CTA’s objective of making BOI available to a range of users for purposes specified in the CTA.

Further, FinCEN has indicated that, “[c]oincident with the protocols described in this NPRM, FinCEN is working to develop a secure, non-public database in which to store BOI, using rigorous information security methods and controls typically used in the Federal government to protect non-classified yet sensitive information systems at the highest security levels.”

The comment period for the NPRM is 60 days.  The NPRM proposes an effective date of January 1, 2024, consistent with when the final BOI reporting rule at 31 C.F.R. § 1010.380 becomes effective.  The proposed BOI access regulations will be set forth separately at 31 C.F.R. § 1010.955, rather than existing 31 C.F.R. § 1010.950, which governs the disclosure of other Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) information.

This NPRM relates to the second of three sets of regulations which FinCEN ultimately will issue under the CTA.  As we have blogged (here and here), FinCEN already has issued regulations regarding the BOI reporting obligation itself.  FinCEN still must issue proposed regulations on “reconciling” the new BOI reporting regulations and the existing CDD regulations applicable to covered FIs for obtaining BOI from their own entity customers.

As we discuss, the lengthy NPRM suggests answers to some questions, but it of course also raises other questions.  Although domestic and even foreign government agencies will have generally broad access to the BOI database, assuming that they satisfy various requirements, the NPRM’s proposed access for FIs to the BOI database is relatively limited.…

Continue Reading  Privacy, Cybersecurity and Access to Beneficial Ownership Information:  FinCEN Issues Notice of Proposed Regulations Under the Corporate Transparency Act

On December 15, 2022, the New York Department of Financial Services (“NYDFS”) published an Industry Letter detailing the Department’s guidance regarding banking organizations that wish to engage in virtual currency-related activities. Specifically, while the guidance reminds New York banking organizations, branches, and agencies of foreign banking organizations licensed by the Department (together, “Covered Institutions”) of the preexisting obligation to seek approval from the Department before engaging in new or significantly different virtual currency-related activity, the guidance describes the process and types of information that the Department considers relevant to its approval process.  The guidance is effective as of December 15, 2022, and was accompanied by a press release from NYDFS’ Superintendent Adrienne A. Harris.

For the purposes of the Industry Letter, “virtual currency-related activity” includes “all ‘virtual currency business activity,’ as that term is defined in 23 NYCRR § 200.2(q), as well as the direct or indirect offering or performance of any other product, service, or activity involving virtual currency that may raise safety and soundness concerns for the Covered Institution or that may expose New York customers of the Covered Institution or other users of the product or service to risk of harm.”  As we will discuss, any Covered Institution seeking NYDFS approval should focus in part on addressing the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”)/Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”) and Office of Foreign Asset Control (“OFAC”)-related risks posed by the virtual currency-related activity.…

Continue Reading  NYDFS Releases Virtual Currency Guidance for Banking Organizations

Ruling Could Influence FinCEN in Forthcoming Regulations Under the CTA

On November 22nd, an appeals court in Luxembourg issued a decision that highlights the tensions between anti-money laundering (“AML”) goals and privacy concerns, and could impact impending beneficial ownership regulations to be issued under the U.S. Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”).  Specifically, the appeals court decided that the general public’s access to beneficial ownership information (“BOI”) interfered with the fundamental right of privacy granted under the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (“EU”).…

Continue Reading  European Court Puts the Brakes on AML Directive:  Public Access to Beneficial Ownership Database Violates European Privacy Laws

The “Highlights” — To Russia, With Crypto

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued on November 1 a Financial Trend Analysis regarding ransomware-related Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) filings during the second half of 2021 (the “Report”).  This publication follows up on a similar ransomware trend analysis issued by FinCEN regarding the first half of 2021, on which we blogged here.  

In the most recent analysis, FinCEN found that both the number of ransomware-related Suspicious Activity Reports (“SAR”) filed, and the dollar amounts at issue, nearly tripled from 2020 to 2021.  The notable takeaways from the Report include:

  • Ransomware-related SARs were the highest ever in 2021 (both in number of SARs and in dollar amounts of activity reported).
  • Ransomware-related SARs reported amounts totaling almost $1.2 billion in 2021.
  • Approximately 75% of ransomware-related incidents between June 2021 and December 2021 were connected to Russia-related ransomware variants.

The Report, which stated that the majority of these ransomware payments were made in Bitcoin, serves as a particular reminder to cryptocurrency exchanges of their role in both identifying and reporting ransomware-related transactions facilitated through their platforms.  The Report stresses that SAR filings play an essential role in helping FinCEN identify ransomware trends.…

Continue Reading  FinCEN Reports Staggering Increase in Reported Ransomware Attacks

On June 23, 2022, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) released its Semiannual Risk Perspective (SRP) for spring 2022.  In the SRP, the OCC opines on its current safety and soundness concerns for banks under its regulatory umbrella, focusing on Russia sanctions, climate-related risk, and rising inflation.  Despite these challenges, the OCC believes that “[b]anks’ financial condition remains strong and positioned to deal with the economic headwinds.”

Of special note, the OCC also believes compliance risk is “heightened” for Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) compliance because of world events and compliance staffing concerns.  In addition, the OCC warns that banks face an “elevated” risk of cyber attacks and fraud or cybersecurity risks related to digital assets.…

Continue Reading  OCC Highlights Risks Associated with Compliance Staffing Concerns, Russia Sanctions, Environmental Crimes, Cyber Attacks and Digital Assets

On June 15, FinCEN issued an Advisory on Elder Financial Exploitation (“Advisory”) to warn financial institutions about the rising trend of elder financial exploitation (“EFE”), which FinCEN defines as “the illegal or improper use of an older adult’s funds, property, or assets, and is often perpetrated either through theft or scams.”  The Advisory is detailed.  It highlights new EFE typologies and potential red flags and builds upon a related advisory issued in 2011.  It also offers tips on Suspicious Activity Report (“SAR”) filings and describes other resources available to fight EFE.…

Continue Reading  FinCEN Warns Against Elder Financial Exploitation