USA: Naturalised citizens charged with cash smuggling

Hassan Abuzaitoun, 35 and Mohammad Alazzam, 33, have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy to launder.

The allegations are that the two attempted to smuggle approximately half a million dollars from the USA to Jordan, in breach of currency reporting requirements.

But the allegations include that the attempt was not the first event - "substantial" sums were previously smuggled.

It is coincidental that the Jordan yesterday announced a major revision of its counter-money laundering policy relating to money changers requiring proof of identity and that business be rejected if there's a due diligence failure.