US Attorney General praises ‘historic’ efforts to stop COVID relief abuse; hundreds charged for $569M worth of scams according to latest DOJ figures

Regulatory Watch News

• 

  FinCEN Issues Analysis on Elder Financial Exploitation

  FinCEN

  April 18, 2024

  Financial Institutions Report $27 Billion in Elder Financial Exploitation Suspicious Activity in One-Year Period

  WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a Financial Trend Analysis today focusing on patterns and trends identified in Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) data linked to Elder Financial Exploitation (EFE), or the illegal or improper use of an older adult’s funds, property, or assets. FinCEN examined BSA reports filed between June 15, 2022 and June 15, 2023 that either used the key term referenced in FinCEN’s June 2022 EFE Advisory or checked “Elder Financial Exploitation” as a suspicious activity type. This amounted to 155,415 filings over this period indicating roughly $27 billion in EFE-related suspicious activity.

• 

  Financial sanctions update: Iran

  OFSI

  April 18, 2024

  13 entries added to the consolidated list

  On 18 April 2024 the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office updated the UK Sanctions List on GOV.UK. This list provides details of those designated under regulations made under the Sanctions Act. 13 entries have been added to the Iran financial sanctions regime and are now subject to an asset freeze.

• 

  European Parliament resolution on Commission Delegated Regulation of 14 April 2024 amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1675 as regards adding Kenya and Namibia to the table in point I of the Annex and deleting Barbados, Gibraltar, Panama, Uganda and the United Arab Emirates from that table

  European Parliament

  April 18, 2024

  Whereas Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1675, its annex and the amending Commission delegated regulation of 14 March 2024 identify high-risk third countries with strategic deficiencies as regards anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing (AML/CTF) which represent a threat for the Union financial system and for which enhanced customer due diligence measures shall be applied by Union obliged entities under Directive (EU) 2015/849;

  Whereas, according to the 2020 methodology for identifying high-risk third countries under Directive (EU) 2015/849, set out in Commission Staff Working Document of 7 May 2020 (the 2020 methodology), the Commission can largely rely on the assessments of third countries carried out by international bodies, such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), since the assessment by the FATF follows due process based on objective criteria and the specific thresholds for being listed permit identification of countries presenting very material and profound strategic deficiencies; whereas, in principle, any third country representing a risk to the international financial system, as identified by FATF, is presumed to represent a risk to the internal market;