NEWS: Tether denies reports its being probed for AML violations; claims world’s biggest stablecoin favored by crime gangs

Regulatory Watch News

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  READOUT: FinCEN and Partner FIU Officials Meet in Canada for International Public-Private Partnership Events on Illicit Finance

  FinCEN

  October 26, 2024

  OTTAWA—On October 24 and 25, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) joined the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre (FINTRAC) of Canada in co-hosting the first FinCEN-FINTRAC Anti-Money Laundering/Anti-Terrorist Financing Symposium (Symposium). The Symposium, held in Ottawa, Canada, brought together financial intelligence units (FIUs) and law enforcement agencies from Canada, the United States, Australia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, as well as U.S.- and Canada-based financial institutions, to discuss a variety of money laundering and terrorist financing issues. The Symposium included presentations on the emerging trends, typologies, and case studies on Iran-backed terrorist financing, Russian sanctions evasion, online child sexual exploitation, synthetic opioid trafficking, human trafficking, and the illegal wildlife trade.

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  Georgia Woman Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison for $30M COVID-19 Unemployment Fraud Scheme and Firearms Charge

  US Department of Justice

  October 25, 2024

  A Georgia woman was sentenced yesterday for her role in a scheme to defraud the Georgia Department of Labor (GaDOL) out of tens of millions of dollars in benefits meant to assist unemployed individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tyshion Nautese Hicks, 32, of Vienna, was sentenced to 12 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution in an amount to be determined at a later date. Hicks’ total sentence includes a penalty of three consecutive years in prison, imposed yesterday in relation to a separate charge of illegal possession of a machine gun prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia.

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  Romania: The NAFS Anti-Fraud Communication Network decided to set up a communication plan to prevent fraud with European funds

  OLAF

  October 25, 2024

  The Fight Against Fraud Department - DLAF coordinated the second meeting of the NAFS Anti-Fraud Communication Network, held virtually on 22 October. DLAF opened the discussions on the establishment of a joint Communication Plan, which will create an integrated communication of all the member institutions of NAFS Anti-Fraud Communication Network. The implementation of the Communication Plan is occasioned by the adoption, in December 2023, of the „National Anti-Fraud Strategy for the protection of the Financial Interests of the European Union in Romania 2023-2027” (NAFS), which establishes that one of the main objectives is the prevention of fraud with European funds.