The "Asset Search News Roundup: January 26, 2009 " mentioned that Heartland Payment Systems was subjected to what might have been the biggest credit / debit card information theft in the U.S. Mr. Albert Gonzalez was ultimately indicted for that privacy law violation / computer intrusion and other ones. In fact, Mr. Gonzalez pleaded
Associated Bank Sued For Supposedly Ignoring Red Flags
My article "Money Laundering By Minneapolis Money Managers?" reports that a lawsuit against Patrick Kiley, Trevor Cook and other money managers, had raised the question of whether Associated Bank breached a duty to prevent suspected money laundering. As I mentioned in that article, Associated Bank could have conceivably failed to follow a written Customer Identification Program under 31 CFR 103.121 ¶ (b) (2) (i).
After I wrote "Money Laundering By Minneapolis Money Managers?", two lawsuits were filed against Associated Bank raising these same issues. The gravamen of said lawsuits, was that Associated Bank had supposedly been negligent in allowing suspected securities fraudsters to open and maintain a nominee bank account in the name of Crown Forex LLC. Crown Forex LLC was reportedly a sham business entity and its Associated Bank account was possibly used as a laundering link to wash some of the proceeds of a suspected securities fraud.
The first of these lawsuits was briefly filed in Minneapolis federal court via a November 4, 2009, third amended complaint. That Minneapolis lawsuit against Associated Bank, was soon voluntarily dismissed pursuant to a December 9, 2009 filing and the Court’s December 10, 2009, Order. The second lawsuit against Associated Bank, (Herman Grad vs. Associated Bank NA, Brown County Case #2009-CV-002949), is however, still pending in Wisconsin. Continue Reading Associated Bank Sued For Supposedly Ignoring Red Flags
Asset Search News Roundup: December 25, 2009
Today"s "Asset Search News Roundup" highlights hiding / smuggling cash at U.S.-Mexican border crossings and describes how fraudsters might select bank accounts to facilitate their financial frauds:
- On December 14, 2009 federal agents reportedly seized $300,000 in undeclared currency at a U.S.- Mexican border crossing in Arizona. The $300,000 was allegedly hidden / smuggled in
Asset Search News Roundup: November 22, 2009
This "Asset Search News Roundup" mentions the sentence of a former Louisiana congressman and the 14,700 U.S. taxpayers who sought partial amnesty from the IRS:
- A November 13th FBI press release explained that Former Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson was sentenced to thirteen years in prison for public corruption and other crimes. As I discussed at
Asset Search News Roundup: November 16, 2009
A tax filing at the "Financials Page" of its website reveals that the Alavi Foundation had assets in 2007 with a fair market value of nearly $88 million. Federal prosecutors meanwhile, filed an amended complaint last Thursday against The Alavi Foundation. It sought asset forfeiture, as reported by Reuters, The New York
Anti-Money Laundering Bellwether Seeks Transparency Across The Globe
The Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”), is the bellwether for the fight against global money laundering and terrorist financing. Its leading role is recognized by U.S. lawmakers in the Bank Secrecy Act at 31 U.S.C. §5311, which states:
“FATF’s Forty Recommendations on Money Laundering and the … Special Recommendations on Terrorist Financing are
Asset Search News Roundup: November 4, 2009
The October 22, 2008 "Asset Search News Roundup" mentioned the problem of money launderers concealing assets through money mules. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation issued its own alert last week about this same use of money mules:
Click Here For A Complete View Of Last Week’s Alert
A money mule making a wire
Concealing Assets By Circumventing Customer Identification Rules
As a countermeasure against those bank customers who would use their bank accounts to fraudulently conceal assets, government regulators commonly require that banks apply customer identification or “know your customer” rules. These rules are often geared toward identifying the true beneficial owner of a bank account and are analyzed at my articles “Beneficial Owners Concealing
Money Laundering By Minneapolis Money Managers?
Minnesota money managers Trevor Cook, Patrick Kiley, Christopher Pettengill, Jason Bo-Alan Beckman and Gerald Durand, have been sued by 57 investors for alleged securities fraud. The Minneapolis Star Tribune wrote about the lawsuit in “Investment fraud suit grows more complex” and earlier on July 12, 2009.
The investors’ second amended complaint at part 1 and part 2 herein, pleaded causes of action for: fraud, conversion, civil theft, negligent misrepresentation, civil conspiracy, deceptive trade practices, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duty. It asserted that the money managers had converted about $16 million belonging to the investors by inducing the investors to place monies in a foreign currency arbitrage program.
This second amended complaint specifically claimed that some of the money managers had aired radio broadcasts to solicit investments for the foreign currency arbitrage program. Money manager Christopher Pettengill reportedly described this arbitrage program to two investors, by drawing what might be nothing more than a meaningless link chart:
(Click On The Link Chart To Enlarge It)
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Continue Reading Money Laundering By Minneapolis Money Managers?
Committing Bank Fraud Through Identity Thefts
An August 25 Newsweek article mentioned that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke had fallen prey to identity thieves after Mr. Bernanke’s wife had her purse stolen. One of the people believed to have been responsible for that identity theft is Clyde Austin Gray, Jr. Mr. Gray had conspired to commit identity theft nationwide, according to