NEWS: Britain’s Metro Bank placed on FCA’s ‘watchlist,’ is under enhanced supervision

Regulatory Watch News

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  Treasury Targets Sanctions Evaders Supporting Key Hizballah Financial Advisor

  OFAC

  May 2, 2024

  WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated five individuals for helping U.S.-designated Hizballah money exchanger Hassan Moukalled (Moukalled) and his company, CTEX Exchange, evade sanctions and facilitate illicit activities in support of Hizballah. These individuals, including two co-founders of CTEX Exchange and two of Moukalled’s sons, operate two companies in Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that are being concurrently designated. Individuals and entities targeted today are being designated pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, as amended, which targets terrorist groups, their supporters, and those who aid acts of terrorism.

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  FINTRAC imposes an administrative monetary penalty on The Toronto-Dominion Bank

  FINTRAC

  May 2, 2024

  FINTRAC announced today that it has imposed an administrative monetary penalty on The Toronto-Dominion Bank. Following a compliance examination in 2023, this bank in Toronto, Ontario, was imposed an administrative monetary penalty of $9,185,000 on April 9, 2024, for non-compliance with Part 1 of the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act and its associated Regulations.

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  Operation PANDORA shuts down 12 phone fraud call centres

  Europol

  May 2, 2024

  In the early hours of 18 April 2024, German, Albanian, Bosnian-Herzegovinian, Kosovar* and Lebanese police forces raided 12 call centres identified as the source of thousands of daily scam calls. 21 persons were taken into custody during this Europol-supported action day, which took down a criminal network responsible for defrauding thousands of victims through the use of various modus operandi. The callers’ playbooks would range from shocking fake police calls, persuasive investment fraud or heart-wrenching romance scams. In an unprecedented law enforcement effort, a large-scale German investigation evolved into Operation PANDORA, which identified 39 suspects.