WMLR: Digest 2007 01 23
Back after the New Year, bigger, brighter and better. And probably funnier, too.
World Money Laundering Report: Digest
A publication of Vortex Centrum Limited, part of The Anti Money Laundering Network.
23 January 2007
World Money Laundering Report: Digest.
Citation: WMLR: D 2007 01 23
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*The Society of Anti Money Laundering Professionals.*
*Join the global society now at www.socamlpro.org*
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HAPPY NEW YEAR
Welcome to 2007 with World Money Laundering Report: Digest.
In World Money Laundering Report Volume 7 Number 10
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Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Typologies 2006
The last event of the series
Hong Kong 2 February 2007
See www.antimoneylaunderingtraining.com for details
==============
Australia: New Law, New Approach, New Challenges
Sydney 15th February 2007
Optional workshop 16th February 2007
Details at www.financialcrimeforum.com
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Financial Crime Forum Europe 2007
Vienna 19 March – 21 March 2007
Culture, snow and Forum all on one go!
Details available shortly at www.financialcrimeforum.com
====================
In World Money Laundering Report Online : Daily News recently -
SA: Scorpions find massive drugs supply
23. January 2007
South Africa's elite police squad, the Scorpions, have found a huge supply of "ice" - a methamphetamine-like substance once the drug of choice in trendy clubs in New York but generally thought to have fallen out of favour.
Full story at www.wmlro.com...
UK: Treasury issues draft Money Laundering Regulations.
23. January 2007
There were no groans or screams of protest as Treasury Minister Ed Balls unveilled the UK Treasury's draft of the third set of Money Laundering Regulations in the past four years. Do these people have nothing better to do than keep changing things?
Full story at www.wmlro.com...
Security: another data hack exposes card details
22. January 2007
Recent security features have focussed on lapses of security, often physical, when data has been physically lost or misplaced when being transported on tape or disk. But the risk of electronic break-in remains real as TJX Maxx is having to admit.
Full story at www.wmlro.com...
USA: now citizens have to handle new passport requirements
22. January 2007
It comes as a surprise to learn that many US citizens have been free to travel abroad without a passport. But new rules say that some of the destinations that used to fall within the system are to be excluded from it - and whilst the countries may accept US citizens without a passport, they won't be allowed home if they can't produce the all important slip of paper.
Full story at www.wmlro.com...
US: fraudulent cashiers' cheques becoming major problem
19. January 2007
After widepsread internet fraud, the most commonly reported fraud in World Money Laundering Report: Resources is fraudulent cashiers' cheques in the USA: there are almost daily notices of the discovery of counterfiet or stolen cheques. Now the The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has issued an advisory to provide advice to help consumers avoid becoming victims of scams involving cashier's cheques, which are widely used as an alternative to Bankers' Drafts.
Full story at www.wmlro.com...
US: Mortgage loan fraud
19. January 2007
The Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has prepared an assessment of mortgage loan fraud, which it based on its analysis of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs). Importantly the report provides information of value that provides some form of payback to financial institutions for the work in completing and submitting SARs.
Full story at www.wmlro.com...
Phishing: potentially most dangerous technique yet.
18. January 2007
RSA, a company specialising in identifying internet threats, has found for sale the "Universal Man-in-the-Middle Phishing Kit" which, the company says, represents a leap forward in online risk. But is it all the warnings make it out to be?
Full story at www.wmlro.com...
UK: excuse us while we fall about laughing
17. January 2007
This morning the UK's Home Secretary John Reid will address journalists on the launch of the Government's latest attempt to control organised crime - always the sign that there is some disaster about to befall the government and it wants to attract attention away from that crisis. But in the light of the news that the law to keep tabs on terrorists is a laughable failure, the Organised Crime Bill's anticipated provisions - to tell crime lords they can't use mobile phones or the internet, and to tell them they can't leave the country - is silly.
Full story at www.wmlro.com...
UK: Oops there goes another one
17. January 2007
Israel: Olmert faces investigation
17. January 2007
Kuwait: convicted Royal condemned to death
16. January 2007
UK: trial of “extremist Muslims” begins
16. January 2007
UK: the best named politician makes his mark again.
15. January 2007
UK ARA to be disbanded
12. January 2007
Thailand: upheaval continues
11. January 2007
UK: "if you've lots of money, we won't arrest you"
11. January 2007
US Treasury designates UK bank
10. January 2007
Fraud: the sort of credit card decline we can all live with
9. January 2007
Full stories at www.wmlro.com
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There is only one due diligence tool that assesses account risk before a single transaction takes place.
Risk Values: Know your customer, not just his money.
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World Money Laundering Report: Digest News
*UK* The UK is upsetting a lot of people: it's told its diplomats to report any British company suspected of bribery overseas, it's making a fuss about the new draft of its Money Laundering Regulations being used to battle foreign corruption but its own government has acted in a way that many see as failing to deal with serious allegations of corruption because it was politically and economically expedient to do so. The country's entire credibility, already deeply upset by the actions of the Labour government on the world stage (and even more so domestically) is arguably set for collapse.
*Brazil* - Sonia Moraes Hernandes (known as “The Bishop”) and Estevam Hernades-Filho (known as “the Apostle”) are the founders of a Brazilian evangelical movement called “Reborn in Christ Church” with two churches in Florida – and as many as 1,200 in Brazil. And they are guests of the US Federal Authorities in Miami having been arrested as they were about to leave the country. They declared USD10,000 in cash. According to US law, all cash export or or exceeding USD10,000 must be declared. But according to officers, that was not even close to the money they were carrying: there was USD9,000 hidden in the cover of a bible and more was packed into a CD case, some folded into a jacket packed in luggage and even in the backpack of their child. All in all, USD56,000 was found, say prosecutors. But it's what their supporters say that make this story worthwhile. This quote from The Miami Herald is just priceless – the following is attributed to Pastor Angelita Vale: “It's religious persecution. They disagree with the accusations, and they have a clear conscience because they know they are doing the work of God. The congregation here loves the apostle and the bishop because they are serious people.. and that none of this is true. What is happening is terrible and cruel.” The Brazilian authorities don't think so: they are investigating the couple for alleged tax evasion and money laundering, and are now understood to be preparing extradition papers.
*USA* - If President Castro of Cuba wasn't so ill, he'd be having one of those belly laughs that have sustained him whilst he has achieved the destruction of his country's economy, the creation of a surprisingly effective socialist state in terms of provision of healthcare and education but not much else and the fact that the USA sends him cheques for rent at Guantanamo Bay – which Cuba doesn't cash. The reason he would be laughing is that the USA still refuses – for 99.9% of purposes – to recognise Cuba. But now the USA might just be in a position where it really wants to have a chat with the Cuban authorities for incarcerated in a Cuban jail is one Hernando Gomez Bustamante – and the Americans really, really want him. So do the Colombians and the Panamanians. Cuba has declined to hand him over in response to requests from those two countries and there is speculation that, at least in part, Cuba is waiting for the USA to ask for his delivery – for such a request would be tantamount to the restoration, at least in very small part, of diplomatic relations. Bustamante was arrested in 2004 at Havana airport carrying a false passport. It's the New York courts that want him in the USA to be tried on charges of money laundering, drugs trafficking and other offences relating to his alleged involvement as senior officer of the Norte Valle Cartel (see www.wmlro.com for details of the Cartel structure).
*USA* - 39 year old Jason Itzler is a lawyer – but he no longer practises. These days the practise of law isn't a lot of fun, and like many lawyers, Itzler found what he thought was a better life. Unlike many lawyers, the better life he chose was running prostitutes – claiming that he “really believed I was helping them.” Hm... with rates of up to USD2,000 an hour for an “escort,” someone somewhere was making serious money. This week he was sentenced to a jail for three years for pimping and money laundering. Caught up in the fallout is Itzler's former defence lawyer, Paul Bergrin. Bergrin used to be a state prosecutor in New Jersey and a US attorney: he's now been arrested on charges similar to those of which Itzler has been convicted.
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*Join the global society now at www.socamlpro.org *
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World Money Laundering Report: Digest is published in the UK by Vortex Centrum Limited
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