Financial Crime Online

The FATF updated its recommendations. According to a press release, the main changes are: The main changes are: Combating the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction through the consistent implementation of targeted financial sanctions when these are called for by the UN Security Council. Improved transparency to make it harder for criminals [...]

An end to one of the most spectacular Swiss banking criminal cases. Zurich based banker Holenweger was acquitted of money laundering charges. Eight years after Holenweger was first arrested on charges of laundering money for South American drug cartels, the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona on Thursday cleared him of all charges, which also included [...]

According to the Guardian, ‘ Operation Eaglewood’  led to Scotland Yard’s largest-ever simultaneous raid in February 2008. The investigation focused on money laundering and cocaine distribution. A taxi cab business was in the middle of the laundering scheme; is was used as a front store. 33 gang members were sentenced. From the information that surfaced, [...]

Laundering leaders and their families…. The son in law of Kazakh leader Nazabayev, Timor Kulibayev, is subject of a Swiss money laundering probe according to multiple sources. He allegedly used Swiss bank accounts to launder money. One of the transactions under investigations is probably related to a real estate deal. He bought the Duke of [...]

The police in San Salvador found two barrels full of (suspected) drug money buried 6 ft under. One of the barrels was found near a ranch in Penitente Abajo. After three (!) days of counting, the police concluded this barrel contained $9 million in $100, $50 and $20 bills. A second barrel was found nearyby, [...]

Michelle Aiello was sentenced to 15,5 years in prison for being a mafioso and for corruption and fraud (but the last 2 obviously come with the job of being a maffioso). This week the Italian police confiscated his entire business empire with an estimated value of 800 million euro ($1 billion). In the treasure chest [...]

An $8.9 million fine that is. The UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) said Tuesday that Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and its subsidiaries failed to properly screen its customers and their transactions during 2008, leading to an “unacceptable risk that RBS could have facilitated transactions involving sanctions targets, including terrorist financing.”. Notice the words ‘could [...]

The enormous demand for 200 and 500 euro bills is great for the Eurozone and the profits of the European Central Bank (ECB) according to the Wall Street Journal today. The ECB is the bank printing the bills. Seigniorage is the technical term for the difference between the nominal value and the production value of [...]

An interesting spin-off during an investigation by Austrian and German authorities into the near-collapse of Austrian bank  Hypo Group Alpe Adria. The bank was once owned by the Austrian region of Carinthia, which Austrian right wing politician Haider governed until he died in a car crash in 2008. The investigators revealed that Haider had access to [...]

Some significant highlights from a criminal career in the cocaine business; the first time to hit the DEA ‘wanted’ list (with a $5 million price on your head) and the first time to be killed in a shootout with the Mexican army. Ignacio Coronel Villarreal, “Nacho” for friends, was the wingman of Joaquin Guzman, top dog [...]