NEWS: UK as a money laundering hub: Estimated £100bn a year funnelled through the nation

Regulatory Watch News

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  Man convicted of trying to smuggle £1m in suitcases out of UK

  National Crime Agency

  April 18, 2025

  A man who was stopped at Heathrow Airport with £1m in two suitcases has admitted money laundering following a National Crime Agency investigation. Mazen Al Shaar, 48, was stopped by Border Force officers on Saturday 15 March this year as he was about to fly from Terminal Three to Beirut.

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  Treasury Targets International Bank of Yemen for Support to the Houthis

  OFAC

  April 18, 2025

  WASHINGTON — Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is sanctioning Yemen-based International Bank of Yemen Y.S.C. (IBY) for its financial support to Ansarallah, commonly known as the Houthis, which is part of the Iran threat network.  As part of this designation, OFAC is also sanctioning key leaders or officials of IBY, Kamal Hussain Al Jebry, Ahmed Thabit Noman Al-Absi, and Abdulkader Ali Bazara.  The designation of IBY complements the whole-of-government effort to stop Iran-backed Houthi attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

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  UK insurer charged with bribery in Ecuador

  Serious Fraud Office

  April 17, 2025

  The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) today accused a UK insurance company of failing to prevent international bribery. Representatives of United Insurance Brokers Limited (UIBL) were ordered to appear before Westminster Magistrates’ Court next month. The company is charged with failing to prevent associates from bribing state officials in Ecuador between October 2013 and March 2016. The SFO alleges UIBL’s US-based intermediaries for Ecuador paid bribes in return for the awarding of re-insurance contracts worth US$38 million. If this case proceeds to a contested trial, it will be the first time that an SFO “failure to prevent bribery” case is heard by a jury.