August 09 - What should we expect from the looming provincial one-man commission of inquiry into money-laundering? Named on May 15 by Premier John Horgan, Commissioner Austin Cullen is charged with looking at the full scope of money-laundering including through the real estate sector, gambling, financial institutions and the corporate and professional sectors.

August 09 - Regulators across the globe and in the United States are taking a tougher stance on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies ever since the news broke that Facebook would be launching a crypto asset of their own, sparking widespread outrage and concern. While power and privacy are the main concerns over Facebook’s libra crypto token, Bitcoin and the rest of the crypto market is being given a bad rap for its involvement in illicit crimes, such as ransomware, tax evasion, and money laundering. To further combat money laundering facilitated through crypto assets, 15 different countries have come together to create a crypto monitoring system.

August 07 - Financial fraudsters often try to target the elderly or otherwise vulnerable — but one recently picked the worst possible target. Calgarian Ben Perrin runs an educational YouTube channel focused on teaching people about bitcoin and cryptocurrency, and is the marketing director for a bitcoin exchange.

August 06 - The Law Society of British Columbia recently approved three changes to its model rules to help prevent money laundering – a matter that’s garnered widespread public awareness in B.C. However the changes, adopted July 12, do not require suspicious transactions to be reported to the Canadian government agency Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC).

August 05 - In April 2019, we wrote about the federal government's efforts on transparency in shareholdings for Canada Business Corporation Act companies. In connection with those efforts, which are linked to combatting money laundering, the federal government is also engaged with the Federation of Law Societies of Canada (the "Federation") in addressing money laundering and other illicit activity that may arise in the practice of law. A joint working group (the "Working Group") between the Federation, three provincial law societies and the federal government was established in June for this purpose.

August 05 - The FBI has put out a warning on "confidence/romance frauds" across online dating sites. Cybercriminals are tricking people into laundering and sending money, purchasing items and providing personal and financial information, the FBI said Monday, by posing as a US citizen in a foreign country, a US military member deployed overseas or a US business owner. More than 15,000 people told the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) they were a victim of an online dating confidence/romance fraud, totaling $211 million in losses in 2017. This rose to 18,000 people and $362 million in 2018, the FBI said.

August 02 - Danske Bank has outlined plans to quit Russia by January next year after the Danish bank was rocked by allegations its Estonian branch was involved in a mind-boggling $230 billion money laundering scandal, bne IntelliNews reported Friday. In a memo to his contacts yesterday, Russia Country Manager Edvin Kornelius said “goodbye to our Moscow corporate team” as well as part of the bank’s remaining St Petersburg personnel. Kornelius said the remaining Moscow-based clients will be supported out of St Petersburg until the lender’s full closure in January next year.