NEWS: Cyber-enabled fraud, child exploitation among the focus for AUSTRAC and ASEAN financial intelligence

Regulatory Watch News

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  Nevada Man Convicted of $11.2M COVID-19 Fraud

  US Department of Justice

  September 7, 2024

  A federal jury convicted a Nevada man today for defrauding three banks of more than $11.2 million in COVID-19 pandemic relief funds intended to help small businesses impacted by the pandemic.

  According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Meelad Dezfooli, 30, of Henderson, engaged in a scheme to submit fraudulent loan applications under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a program that provided loans to help small businesses continue paying employee salaries and certain other basic business expenses during the pandemic. Dezfooli submitted three fraudulent PPP loan applications to federally insured banks, purportedly for the benefit of companies that the defendant controlled, and obtained more than $11.2 million in proceeds from those loans.

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  Building resilience to fraud and enhancing digital financial literacy with EU support in Latvia and Lithuania

  Latvijas Banka

  September 6, 2024

  Today marks the beginning of an ambitious project aimed at strengthening the digital financial literacy of the population of Latvia and Lithuania and its resilience to financial fraud. The project brings together the European Commission, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Latvijas Banka, Lietuvos bankas, and other representatives of the financial and security sectors. The stakeholders will develop and implement effective solutions based on the results and recommendations of studies conducted by the OECD.

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  U.S. Department of the Treasury, IRS Announce $1.3 Billion Recovered from High-Income, High-Wealth Individuals Under Biden-Harris Inflation Reduction Act Initiatives

  US Department of the Treasury

  September 6, 2024

  $172 million recovered from 21,000 wealthy taxpayers who have not filed tax returns since 2017 in first six months of new initiative

  WASHINGTON—Today, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen and Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service Danny Werfel are delivering remarks at the Austin, Texas IRS campus to announce new milestones under Inflation Reduction Act initiatives to ensure wealthy individuals pay taxes owed, improve service for taxpayers through the Digital First Initiative, and modernize foundational technology.