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EU issues new sanctions on Russia's 'shadow' fleet
The European Union (EU) has adopted its 17th package of sanctions in response to Moscow's ongoing war against Ukraine, aimed at "cutting off Russia's access to key military technology and curbing Russia's energy revenues", according to a European Council communiqué of 20 May.
Online Published Date:
21 May 2025
Appeared in issue:
325 - 01 July 2025
Spreadex fined UK£2m for AML control and social responsibility failings
Casino and fixed odds betting operator Spreadex Ltd, which trades through spreadex.com, must pay UK£2,022,000 (US$2,713,800) after the UK Gambling Commission uncovered anti-money laundering (AML) compliance and customer protection breaches during a July 2023 inspection.
Online Published Date:
21 May 2025
Appeared in issue:
325 - 01 July 2025
Tolhurst Fisher fined UK£120,000 by UK legal regulator for long-running AML failings
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has confirmed a settlement between Tolhurst Fisher LLP and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) for England & Wales, in which the law firm will pay a UK£120,000 (US$161,000) fine and UK£25,290 (US$33,930) costs for protracted breaches of the Money Laundering Regulations.
Online Published Date:
22 May 2025
Appeared in issue:
325 - 01 July 2025
Edmond de Rothschild fined €25m in Luxembourg over 1MDB sovereign wealth fund laundering
A Luxembourg court has ordered private bank Edmond de Rothschild (Europe) S.A. to pay €25 million (US$28.4 million) to settle criminal charges that it laundered money embezzled, mainly between 2009 and 2013, from Malaysia's 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, by, amongst others, the country's former prime minister Najib Razak.
Online Published Date:
24 May 2025
Appeared in issue:
325 - 01 July 2025
Wynn Las Vegas fined US$5.5m for unlicensed money transmission and proxy betting
The Nevada Gaming Commission has fined Wynn Las Vegas, LLC, a casino operator, US$5.5m for acting as an unregistered money transmitter for patrons, some of suspect character, and for allowing "human head" proxy betting.
Online Published Date:
26 May 2025
Appeared in issue:
325 - 01 July 2025
Liberia fines Orange Money L$15m for AML/CFT oversight, risk and reporting breaches
Mobile phone-based payments operator Orange Money must pay a L$15 million (US$75,000) penalty after Liberia's Financial Intelligence Agency found "major infractions" of the country's Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act 2021 during a September 2024 inspection.
Online Published Date:
28 May 2025
Appeared in issue:
325 - 01 July 2025
UAE fines foreign banks and exchange house for AML/CFT breaches
Two branches of foreign banks operating in the UAE have been fined D10,600,000 (US$2,885,975) and D7,500,000 (US$2,041,965) respectively after inspections by the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) discovered they had not complied with anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) obligations under federal law.
Online Published Date:
29 May 2025
Appeared in issue:
325 - 01 July 2025
HSBC and Bank Pembangunan penalised in Malaysia for beneficial owner and sanctions compliance failings
HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad, its wholly owned subsidiary HSBC Amanah Malaysia Berhad - both part of the HSBC global banking group - and Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Berhad have been fined by Bank Negara Malaysia, variously, for non-compliance with rules around beneficial ownership of corporate customers and flaws in sanctions screening.
Online Published Date:
29 May 2025
Appeared in issue:
325 - 01 July 2025
Russian entities - who's in control?
There has been much debate regarding whether to treat entities associated with the Russian state as sanctioned on the basis that they are subject to the "control" of President Putin or other senior officials who are designated persons under UK sanctions, pursuant to Regulation 7(4) of the Russia sanctions regulations. Alexandra Webster of Simmons & Simmons finds instruction in recent case law.
Online Published Date:
02 June 2025
Appeared in issue:
325 - 01 July 2025
Straightforward - FATF's vice president
The outgoing vice president of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has stressed how highlighting predicate offences "with a human face" helps illustrate to governments, business and civil society that money laundering is not a victimless crime and so AML is worthy of significant political and financial support. Speaking to MLB in an exclusive interview in Ottawa, Canada's capital and his home base, Canada's Jeremy Weil said...
Online Published Date:
04 June 2025
Appeared in issue:
325 - 01 July 2025
Defence strategy: AML pre-conflict
War is a constant in human history: as well as loss of life and physical destruction, the political, social and economic dislocation creates new opportunities for organised crime. Mikhail Karataev looks at the illicit finance risks triggered even before a shot is fired.
Online Published Date:
05 June 2025
Appeared in issue:
325 - 01 July 2025
Two UK law firms fined for AML control failings
Gordons Partnership 2020 Ltd and Moseley Chapman & Skemp Solicitors Ltd have been ordered to pay UK£77,784 (US$105,570) and UK£9,419 (US$12,785), respectively, after the Solicitors Regulation Authority for England & Wales, found they had breached the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLRs 2017).
Online Published Date:
05 June 2025
Appeared in issue:
325 - 01 July 2025
Battling on - Mali
Mali, under military rule since 2020, and riven by civil war between government forces, Islamists and Tuareg separatists, has yet managed to address the illicit finance threat - although it's set to be a long campaign, find Alamako Sokona Coulibaly, in Bamako, and Keith Nuthall.
Online Published Date:
06 June 2025
Appeared in issue:
325 - 01 July 2025
Russian faces life in US jail over crypto transfers for sanctioned parties
A Russian national working and living in New York has been charged with using his crypto-investment firm to transfer more than US$500 million into America "while masking the source of the funds and their true owners", who included sanctioned Russian banks and individuals.
Online Published Date:
12 June 2025
Appeared in issue:
325 - 01 July 2025
Ukraine fines two banks, five other finance firms for AML breaches
The National Bank of Ukraine imposed penalties, in May 2025 (published 6 June 2025), of UAH11,000,000 (US$264,965) on Taskombank and UAH2,000,000 (US$,48,175) on UkrSibbank for inadequate customer due diligence.
Online Published Date:
12 June 2025
Appeared in issue:
325 - 01 July 2025
European Commission adds Monaco to list of high AML/CFT risk countries, removes UAE
The European Commission has added 10 countries to its list of high-risk jurisdictions presenting strategic deficiencies in anti-money laundering/counter financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), including Monaco, a European microstate with which the European Union (EU) has close links. The other nine new entrants to its now 27-strong list are Algeria, Angola, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Namibia, Nepal and Venezuela.
Online Published Date:
12 June 2025
Appeared in issue:
325 - 01 July 2025
Back and forth - beneficial ownership registers in USA and Europe
There was a consensus that knowing who's behind a company is helpful in combating crime - it still holds in the UK and EU but the Trump administration has different ideas. Keith Nuthall contrasts governments' approaches to beneficial ownership information either side of the Atlantic.
Online Published Date:
13 June 2025
Appeared in issue:
325 - 01 July 2025
FATF approves travel rule changes in joint plenary with MONEYVAL
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) updated the travel rule in Recommendation 16 during its latest plenary, which closed on 13 June [2025]. The reform will clarify the information that must be collected by financial services during transactions, especially cross-border payments exceeding US$/€1,000.
Online Published Date:
14 June 2025
Appeared in issue:
325 - 01 July 2025
Ex Pictet relationship manager convicted, bank fined in Switzerland over Petrobras corruption transfers
A former relationship manager (RM) at Geneva-based Banque Pictet et Cie SA has been given a six-month suspended prison sentence by the Swiss Attorney General's Office for approving payments from an account held by an offshore firm whose beneficial owner worked for Petrobras, Brazil's state-controlled oil company.
Online Published Date:
17 June 2025
Appeared in issue:
325 - 01 July 2025
Applied thinking - academic impact on AML
Improved outcomes require clear-eyed, independent, maybe radical thinking about the status quo - where changes need to be made and how. Academics have the resources - both intellectual and time - to explore and positively influence the existing hugely expensive but ineffectual campaign against illicit finance so Keith Nuthall wants to know why they aren't making much difference.
Online Published Date:
19 June 2025
Appeared in issue:
325 - 01 July 2025
FATF calls for prompt action to better counter proliferation finance
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has released proposals for sharpening member states' ability to fight the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, backed by a report warning that existing controls are failing.
Online Published Date:
21 June 2025
Appeared in issue:
325 - 01 July 2025
Take risks, find launderers
Suspicious activity reports, processed by financial intelligence units, may translate into useful 'push' intelligence but law enforcement are equally capable of 'pulling' leads and clues from filings; it's a matter of imagination, will, and overcoming internal obstacles as well as the criminals, Paul Cochrane learns.
Online Published Date:
22 June 2025
Appeared in issue:
325 - 01 July 2025
Edmond de Rothschild convicted and fined - sign of the times?
The sprawling '1MDB' embezzlement investigation snared its first Luxembourg bank in May. Details are a little sketchy but Elizabeth Robertson and Max Hobbs of Robertson Pugh find lessons in the resolution.
Online Published Date:
24 June 2025
Appeared in issue:
325 - 01 July 2025