EXPLAINER: New Wolfsberg Group guide sets out responsibilities for banks on international payment transparency 

Regulatory Watch News

• 

  Founders of Illegal Pyramid Scheme Sentenced for Roles in Fraud That Caused Over $23M in Losses to Victims

  US Department of Justice

  December 17, 2024

  Three individuals were sentenced yesterday for their roles in founding and operating an illegal pyramid scheme. Alex Dee, 50, of Fate, Texas, was sentenced to 36 months in prison and ordered to pay $1,845,600 in forfeiture; Brian Kaplan, 53, of Fort Collins, Colorado, was sentenced to 22 months in prison and ordered to pay $2,838,700 in forfeiture; and Jerrold Mauer, 58, of North Bellmore, New York, was sentenced to 22 months in prison and ordered to pay $1,545,500 in forfeiture.

• 

  Treasury Disrupts North Korean Digital Assets Money Laundering Network

  OFAC

  December 17, 2024

  Action taken in partnership with the United Arab Emirates targets a key node in the Kim regime’s illicit revenue generation schemes

  WASHINGTON — Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is sanctioning two individuals and one entity involved in a network that launders millions of dollars of illicit funds generated by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) information technology (IT) workers and cybercrime to support the DPRK Government. Based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Lu Huaying and Zhang Jian worked through a UAE-based front company to facilitate money laundering and cryptocurrency conversion services that funneled the illicit proceeds back to Pyongyang. This network is led by OFAC-sanctioned Sim Hyon Sop (Sim), a PRC-based banking representative for the DPRK who orchestrates money laundering schemes to fund the regime.

• 

  SEC Charges Express, Inc. with Failing to Disclose Nearly $1 Million in Perks Provided to Former CEO

  SEC

  December 17, 2024

  Washington D.C., Dec. 17, 2024 —

  The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against Ohio-based Express, Inc., a multi-brand American fashion retailer, for failing to disclose executive compensation it paid to its now former CEO. According to the SEC’s order, in definitive proxy statements for fiscal years 2019, 2020, and 2021, Express failed to disclose $979,269 worth of perks and personal benefits provided to its CEO, including certain expenses associated with the CEO’s authorized use of chartered aircraft for personal purposes. As a result, the company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year, understated the “All Other Compensation” portion of its CEO’s compensation by an average of 94 percent over the three fiscal years.