Suspected drug kingpins and hiding assets by way of nominees.
The bottom of p. 5 of this Wolfsberg Group Statement says money laundering risks include financial “[a]ccounts for ‘gatekeepers’ such as accountants, lawyers, or other professionals for their clients where the identity of the underlying client is not disclosed to the financial institution.“
It is therefore no surprise that assets hidden through laundering
Today’s “Asset Search News Roundup” relays the details of a likey abusive trust scheme and an Egmont Group link chart.
“Terrorist Financing, Money Laundering & Financial Intelligence Units” and “Transnationally Tracking The Assets Of Terrorists” discusses the Egmont Group. The Financial Intelligence Units of the Egmont Group search for assets secreted by terrorist financiers and money launderers.
Financial Intelligence Units search for these illicit assets by looking for special indicators.
A letter rogatory from Kenya and the February 24th return of Mayan artifacts to Guatemala.
The New York Post and Bloomberg wrote last month about the appeal pending in Cohen v. S.A.C. Trading Corp., et. al., (11-1390-cv). The Cohen appeal is over the trial court’s March 30, 2011 dismissal of Patricia Cohen’s Second Amended Complaint. The Second Amended Complaint accused Ms. Cohen’s ex-husband, (billionaire hedge fund manager Steven Cohen), of tax fraud, money laundering, securities fraud and other alleged crimes.
This complaint also pleaded civil RICO, common law fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and unjust enrichment claims because Mr. Cohen had purportedly hidden marital assets from Ms. Cohen during their 1990 divorce. The gravamen of the complaint was that Mr. Cohen supposedly defrauded Ms. Cohen out of marital assets which she was arguably entitled to recover.
According to the complaint, Mr. Cohen had invested $8,745,169 dollars in co-op apartment conversions, with former attorney Brett K. Lurie. By January 1987, Mr. Lurie had allegedly repaid Mr. Cohen $5.5 million of the $8,745,169 dollars. The complaint claims the $5.5 million was a marital asset hidden by Mr. Cohen and omitted from his 1988 Statement of Financial Condition. This financial statement identified the $8,745,169 dollar investment with Mr. Lurie as a “non-liquid asset”:
(To Read The Entire Financial Statement, Click On The Highlighted Excerpt)
Continue Reading The Asset Recovery Case Of Cohen v. S.A.C. Trading Corp.
At “Hockey bid a factor in Beckman’s Ponzi trial”, the StarTribune analyzes the Second Superseding Indictment filed in the criminal prosecution against Jason Bo Beckman, Gerald Durand and Patrick Kiley. This StarTribune article explains the three are accused of money laundering and other alleged crimes arising out of Trevor Cook’s securities fraud which was one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in Minnesota history. The article too reveals that the Second Superseding Indictment differs from two earlier ones.
This was true because the Second Superseding Indictment appears to accuse Mr. Beckman of using Ponzi scheme proceeds as part of an alleged attempt to buy an ownership interest in the National Hockey League’s Minnesota Wild team. There is however, another difference between the Second Superseding Indictment and the previous indictments in this matter. Unlike the earlier indictments, Counts 24-25 at pp. 34-36 of the Second Superseding Indictment, basically accuse Mr. Durand of using a nominee’s bank account at Wells Fargo to secretly convert nearly $22,000 in Swiss francs to U.S. dollars.
This supposed currency conversion had conceivably caused Wells Fargo to unknowingly file Currency Transaction Reports with material omissions in them, about who participated in said conversion. Although suspected crimes related to Currency Transaction Reports are typically charged under 31 U.S.C. §§ 5322 &/or 5324, Counts 24-25 of the Second Superseding Indictment allege that Mr. Durand concealed material facts and / or made false statements to the Federal Government in violation of 28 U.S.C. §1001.Continue Reading Prosecutors Add To Indictment Connected To Ponzi Scheme Case
The Financial Action Task Force updates its standards and two politically exposed persons are criminally charged in the Turks and Caicos Islands¹:
A February 3rd civil complaint filed against Forex dealer Peregrine Financial Group, (“PFG”), alleges “PFG ignored or failed to discern a myriad of objective red flags of fraud…” Complaint at pp. 5-6 ¶12. The complaint asserted a $48 million dollar claim under Minnesota’s fraudulent conveyance law and it was filed by Receiver
