NEWS: Israel freezes Barclays bank account linked to Hamas fundraising

Regulatory Watch News

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  Final sentence imposed in multimillion-dollar money laundering conspiracy

  IRS Criminal Investigation

  April 9, 2025

  HOUSTON — A naturalized citizen from Arlington has been ordered to prison for unlicensed money transmitting and money laundering, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei. Nhiem Thi Dan “Sam” Nguyen entered a guilty plea Oct. 5, 2021. U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison has now sentenced Nguyen to serve 40 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by one year of supervised release. She will also forfeit $76,848 in cash seized at the time of her arrest and another $17,801.52 in seized accounts. Judge Ellison found Nguyen managed others in the conspiracy and did not commit the crimes inadvertently.

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  FinCEN Issues Analysis of Fentanyl-Related Threat Patterns and Trends in Bank Secrecy Act Reports

  FinCEN

  April 9, 2025

  WASHINGTON—Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a Financial Trend Analysis focused on patterns and trends identified in Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) data linked to fentanyl-related illicit finance. Between January and December 2024, financial institutions filed 1,246 BSA reports that identified suspected fentanyl-related activity amounting to approximately $1.4 billion in suspicious transactions. The reported financial activity highlighted various aspects of the illicit fentanyl supply chain—including precursor chemical procurement, fentanyl trafficking, and fentanyl-linked money laundering—that have touchpoints across the U.S. financial sector.

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  UK Sanctions Update: Director Disqualification Sanctions

  UK Government

  April 9, 2025

   

  Today, 9 April, the UK Government has varied the designations of 2996 individuals and 818 entities across 28 UK autonomous and mixed sanctions regimes, meaning they are now subject to Director Disqualification Sanctions. 

  The effect of director disqualification sanctions

  Individuals who are subject to director disqualification sanctions are banned directly or indirectly from:

  • being a director of a UK company
  • being a director of a foreign company that has sufficient connection to the UK, even if it is not registered here. For example, if it carries out business or has assets here
  • taking part in or being concerned in the promotion, formation or management of a company

  unless a licence has been issued or there is an exception in place.