Financial Crime Weekly Episode 54

Hello, and welcome to episode 54 of the Financial Crime Weekly Podcast, I’m your host, Chris Kirkbride. It’s been another bumper week for financial crime this week, so my hopes that there would be an ease down in work were short-lived. Lots of news on everything, except for sanctions, with a round-up of cyber-attack news at the end.

These are the links to the principal documents mentioned in the podcast:

Cooley, Treasury Department Releases Report on Money Laundering Risks, Decentralized Finance.

Council of the European Union, Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine: Wagner Group and RIA FAN added to the EU's sanctions list.

European Parliament (Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs), REPORT on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism and amending Regulations (EU) No 1093/2010, (EU) 1094/2010, (EU) 1095/2010.

Financial Stability Board, Recommendations to Achieve Greater Convergence in Cyber Incident Reporting: Final Report.

International Monetary Fund, IMF Executive Board Concludes Review of the Implementation of the Framework for Enhanced Engagement on Governance (press release).

International Monetary Fund, Review of Implementation of The 2018 Framework for Enhanced Fund Engagement on Governance.

International Monetary Fund, Review of 1997 Guidance Note on Governance - A Proposed Framework for Enhanced Fund Engagement.

International Monetary Fund, Good Governance: The IMF's Role.

Solicitors’ Regulation Authority, Goad & Butcher.

UK Department for Work and Pensions, Guidance: Changes in the fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2022 to 2023 estimates.

UK Financial Conduct Authority, TSB fined £48.65m for operational resilience failings (press notice).

UK Financial Conduct Authority, TSB Bank plc (Final Notice).

UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, UK sanctions Abramovich and Usmanov's financial fixers in crackdown on oligarch enablers.

UK Government, Policy paper Factsheet: failure to prevent fraud offence.

UK Home Office, New crackdown on fraud introduced by the Home Office (press release).

UK National Crime Agency, Former Cambridge don who defrauded Government energy grants repays more that £1m.

UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Financial Sanctions Notice: Russia (12/04/2023).

UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Financial Sanctions Notice: Russia (13/04/2023).

UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Financial sanctions targets: list of all asset freeze targets (updated).

UK Prudential Regulation Authority, PRA fines the former Chief Information Officer of TSB Bank plc for a breach of the PRA’s Senior Manager Conduct Rules (press release).

UK Prudential Regulation Authority, Carlos Abarca (Final Notice).

UK Prudential Regulation Authority, TSB fined £48.65m for operational resilience failings (press release).

UK Prudential Regulation Authority, TSB Bank plc (Final Notice).

Ukraine Ministry of Defence, The composition of the Public Anticorruption Committee under the Ministry of Defense has been approved.

US Department of Justice, Former Executives of Outcome Health Convicted in $1B Corporate Fraud Scheme.

US Department of Justice, Restaurateur Sentenced To 57 Months In Prison For Over $6 Million Pandemic Loan Fraud And Interstate Threats.

US Department of Justice, All defendants plead guilty in drug trafficking, COVID fraud operation tied to Savannah strip clubs.

US Department of Justice, Former Investment Banker and Registered Broker Arrested for Operating Cryptocurrency Investment Fraud Scheme.

US Department of Justice, Former Puerto Rico Mayor Pleads Guilty to Bribery Scheme.

US Department of Justice, Man Sentenced for Bribery Schemes Involving Millions of Dollars in U.S.-Funded Military Contracts and Visa Fraud.

US Department of Justice, Sophisticated Sinaloa Cartel Money Laundering Organization Dismantled.

US Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney Announces Charges Against Leadership Of The Sinaloa Cartel And 25 Other Defendants In Massive Fentanyl Importation And Trafficking Conspiracies.

US Department of Justice, Justice Department Announces Total Distribution of Over $6B to Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism.

US Department of Justice, Readout of U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland’s Meeting with Singapore Attorney General Lucien Wong.

US Department of the Treasury, Treasury Releases 2023 DeFi Illicit Finance Risk Assessment (press release).

US Department of the Treasury, Illicit Finance Risk Assessment of Decentralized Finance (report).

US Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control, Treasury Targets Russian Financial Facilitators and Sanctions Evaders Around the World.