Brink’s Global Services USA (“BGS USA”), a global leader in secure logistics, found itself at the center of a significant regulatory investigation due to its failure to meet anti-money laundering (“AML”) obligations. Specifically, BGS USA was found to have violated several provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”), leading to actions by both the U.S.
The Fifth Circuit has granted the government’s request to stay temporarily the order and injunction issued by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, which had issued a nationwide stay prohibiting enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”).
As we have blogged, on December 3, 2024, in the case of Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc., et al. v. Garland, et al., the Eastern District of Texas issued an order (“Order”) granting a nationwide preliminary injunction that: (1) enjoined the CTA, including enforcement of that statute and regulations implementing its beneficial ownership information reporting requirements, and, specifically, (2) stayed all deadlines to comply with the CTA’s reporting requirements.
The Order created great uncertainty, if not chaos, because the CTA’s reporting deadline for covered entities existing prior to January 1, 2024 was January 1, 2025. The uncertainty regarding the status of the CTA was exacerbated last week during the looming federal showdown, in which the initially proposed budget stop-gap bill included language which would have extended the CTA’s filing deadline for previously-existing covered entities by one year. But, that initial spending bill did not pass, and the spending bill which ultimately did pass did not include any language regarding the CTA.
Nonetheless, these political machinations suggest that the CTA and its implementation may face a rocky road when the new administration takes over in January 2025. The CTA could be undone by Congress, or just not enforced by a new administration. Or the implementing regulations could be revised significantly. It’s very hard to predict right now.
Continue Reading Fifth Circuit Halts Nationwide Stay of CTA Enforcement
FinCEN has posted the following on its website in light of a recent litigation outcome regarding the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”) in the Eastern District of Texas. As we have blogged, and as the below notes, other federal district courts have reached opposite conclusions. Also, the Eleventh Circuit still needs to rule on
On November 13, 2024, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued FIN-2024-Alert004 to help financial institutions identify fraud schemes associated with the use of deepfake media created with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in response to increased suspicious activity reporting. “Deepfake media” are a type of synthetic content that use artificial intelligence/machine learning to create realistic
As we previously blogged, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Center (“FinCEN”) published Anti-Money Laundering Regulations for Residential Real Estate Transfers (“Final Rule”) regarding residential real estate. The Final Rule, set to go into effect on December 1, 2025, institutes a new Bank Secrecy Act reporting form – the “Real Estate Report” (“Report”) – which imposes a nation-wide reporting requirement for the details of residential real estate transactions, subject to certain exceptions, in which the buyer is a covered entity or trust.
FinCEN has now published the proposed Report, which is here, and requested comments within 60 days. The Reports are to be filed through FinCEN’s electronic online reporting system.
Continue Reading FinCEN Issues Proposed Reporting Form for Residential Real Estate Deals
On October 23rd, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued a supplementary alert regarding countering financing of the U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization Hizballah (the “Alert”). In May 2024, FinCEN published an initial alert that focused on the countering of financing Iran-backed terrorist organizations, including Hizaballah. This Alert focuses solely on Hizballah and indicates that as part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s (“Treasury”) campaign against Hizballah for the past two decades, financial institutions (“FIs”) must remain vigilant in identifying suspicious activity of the terrorist organization.
According to the Alert, is it estimated that Iran has provided $700 million per year in support of Hizballah. Hizballah is known to generate revenue through various illicit activities including oil smuggling, money laundering, black market money exchange, counterfeiting, and illegal weapons procurement. Funds are laundered through businesses in West Africa, Europe, and South America.
In an accompanying press release, FinCEN Director Gacki noted that the Alert was released in part due to Hizaballah’s recent attacks against Israel. In addition, the Alert is consistent with FinCEN’s National Priorities, which include domestic and foreign terrorism.
Continue Reading FinCEN Issues Alert on Countering Financing of Hizballah and Terrorist Activities
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) has entered into a Consent Order with the Sahara Dunes Casino, doing business as the Lake Elsinore Hotel and Casino (“Lake Elsinore”). The Consent Order describes Lake Elsinore, located in California, as a “medium-sized card club” with 22 tables offering card games such as poker.
In the Consent Order, Lake Elsinore has admitted to willful violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”), including failing to implement and maintain an effective Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”) compliance program, failing to file Currency Transaction Reports (“CTRs”) and Suspicious Activity Reports (“SARs”), and recordkeeping failures involving a negotiable instruments log, which is supposed to list each transaction between a casino or card club and its customers involving certain monetary instruments with a face value of $3,000 or more. Lake Elsinore has agreed to pay a $900,000 penalty and be subject to an AML program review.
The conduct at issue in the Consent Order is old: it occurred from about September 2014 through February 2019. The enforcement action arose from a 2017 examination of Lake Elsinore by the California Bureau of Gambling Control (“CABGC”). The Consent Order illustrates how a federal enforcement action can flow from a state regulatory agency working with FinCEN – as well as just how long that process can take. The Consent Order further illustrates that some BSA-covered institutions will operate with little to no day-to-day AML compliance until an exam occurs.
Six years ago, in early 2018, we blogged about the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (“FinCEN’s”) designation of ABLV Bank, AS (“ABLV”), then the second-largest bank in Latvia, as a foreign financial institution “of primary money laundering concern” pursuant
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued last month an in-depth report on check fraud stemming from mail theft (“Report”). This is a pernicious and expanding problem. The Report follows upon a joint alert issued by FinCEN and the U.S. Postal Service (“USPS”) in February 2023, on which we blogged.
Mail theft-related check fraud
Following up on its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPR”), which we discussed back in March, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released on August 28th a final rule extending Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) requirements to certain investment advisers (Final Rule).
The Final Rule adds “investment adviser” to the definition of “financial institution” at 31 C.F.R. 1010.100(t). The Final Rule applies to registered investment advisers (RIAs), and investment advisers (IAs) that report information to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) as exempt reporting advisers (ERAs), subject to certain exceptions. IAs generally must register with the SEC if they have over $110 million in assets under management (AUM). ERAs are investment advisers that (1) advise only private funds and have less than $150 million in AUM in the United States or (2) advise only venture capital funds.
The Final Rule requires certain IAs to: (1) develop and maintain an AML/CFT compliance program; (2) file Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) and Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs); (3) comply with the Recordkeeping and Travel Rules; (4) respond to Section 314(a) requests; and (5) implement special due diligence measures for correspondent and private banking accounts.
FinCEN released a Fact Sheet in conjunction with the Final Rule, which becomes effective January 1, 2026.
Continue Reading FinCEN Finalizes Rule Subjecting Investment Advisers to AML/CFT Regulations