NEWS: Customs officials in Hong Kong bust HK$400M (€50.9M) money laundering syndicate

Regulatory Watch News

• 

  Treasury Targets Iranian UAV Program, Steel Industry, and Automobile Companies in Response to Unprecedented Attack on Israel

  OFAC

  April 18, 2024

  WASHINGTON — Today, in response to Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel on April 13, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is targeting 16 individuals and two entities enabling Iran’s UAV production, including engine types that power Iran’s Shahed variant UAVs, which were used in the April 13 attack. These actors work on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), its UAV production arm, Kimia Part Sivan Company (KIPAS), and other Iranian manufacturers of UAVs and UAV engines. OFAC is also designating five companies in multiple jurisdictions providing component materials for steel production to Iran’s Khuzestan Steel Company (KSC), one of Iran’s largest steel producers, or purchasing KSC’s finished steel products. Iran’s metals sector generates the equivalent of several billion dollars in revenue annually, with the majority coming from steel exports.  

• 

  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.