Financial Crime Weekly Episode 119

Hello, and welcome to episode 119 of the Financial Crime Weekly Podcast, I’m Chris Kirkbride. There has been an unusual uptick, certainly for the summer months, in financial crime news this week. On sanctions this week, the NCA secures its first sanctions-related forfeiture, and the EU and US have added to their designations. On bribery and corruption, the SFO in the UK has announced charges against five former executives of Glencore, and the High Court has some tough words regarding the behaviour of professionals and institutions in the ‘tuna bond’ action brought by Mozambique. On fraud news, there’s more Covid-19 recovery fund abuse from the US, and the imprisonment of a tech scammer. There is also a decent amount of market abuse news from the SEC in the US, and the Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong, and in other news, the NCA in the UK has announced a new data sharing scheme and the SFO has published its annual report and accounts. There is also a round-up of the cyber-attack news this week.

As usual, I have linked the main stories flagged in the podcast in the description. These are:

Cayman Islands, Beneficial Ownership Transparency Act 2023.

Commodities and Futures Trading Commission’s Office of Customer Education and Outreach, CFTC Warns Customers to Watch for Follow-on Frauds.

Council of the European Union, Sanctions against terrorism: Council renews the EU Terrorist List and designates a new entity.

Department of Justice, Caledonia man sentenced for COVID loan fraud.

Department of Justice, KC Woman Pleads Guilty to $900,000 Covid Fraud Scheme.

Department of Justice, United States v. Andrew Left.

Department of Justice, Leader Of Tech Support Fraud Scheme Sentenced To Seven Years In Prison.

Department of Justice, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco Delivers Remarks on New Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program.

FinCEN, FinCEN Issues Notice to Financial Institution Customers on Beneficial Ownership Information Requirements.

FinCEN, Notice to Customers: Beneficial Ownership Information Reference Guide.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, The UK Sanctions List: Search Function.

Information Commissioner’s Office, Reprimand: The Electoral Commission.

National Crime Agency, NCA recovers £780,000 in the first UK forfeiture of sanctioned funds.

National Crime Agency, Ground breaking public private partnership launched to identify criminality using banking data.

National Crime Agency, Cross-System Professional Enablers Strategy 2024-2026.

National Crime Agency, NCA shuts down major fraud platform responsible for 1.8 million scam calls.

Ocorian, Cayman Islands modernises beneficial ownership regime to align with global standards.

Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, General Licence – Continuation of Business of Evraz Plc’s North American Subsidiaries: INT/2022/1710676.

Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Financial Sanctions Notice: Yemen.

Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Guidance: OFSI General licence INT/2024/4919848.

Office of Foreign Assets Control, Treasury Targets Iranian Missile and UAV Procurement Facilitators.

Office of Foreign Assets Control, Treasury Targets Houthi Weapons Procurement Networks.

Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC Charges Andrew Left and Citron Capital for $20 Million Fraud Scheme.

Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC Charges Founder of Social Media Company “IRL” with $170 Million Fraud.

Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong, Former banker ordered to disgorge $3 million illegal gains from insider dealing.

Serious Fraud Office, Annual Report & Accounts 2023-24 (press release).

Serious Fraud Office, Annual Report and Accounts 2023-2024.

Serious Fraud Office, SFO charges five former Glencore employees.

Spotlight on Corruption, New report finds UK’s enforcement of sanctions is “all bark and no bite” (press release).

Spotlight on Corruption, All Bark and No Bite: Taking Stock of the UK’s Enforcement of Sanctions.

UK government, National Crime Agency main estimate memorandum 2024 to 2025.

UK judgments, The Republic of Mozambique v Credit Suisse International and Others [2024] EWHC 1957 (Comm).