June 29 - European Union negotiators on Wednesday reached a provisional agreement on anti-money laundering rules for cryptocurrencies that would spur crypto firms to check their customers’ identities, in the latest regulatory tightening of the freewheeling sector. The rules, opposed by major U.S. exchange Coinbase Global Inc, would also require crypto firms to report suspicious transactions to regulators to help crack down on dirty money, the European Parliament and Council said in a statement on Wednesday.

June 29 - A former Canadian federal public servant from Gatineau, Que., who pleaded guilty in Canada after a ransomware investigation that netted tens of millions of dollars' worth of seized bitcoin has now pleaded guilty to similar charges in the United States. Sébastien Vachon-Desjardins was arrested by RCMP in January last year on allegations he was a key figure in an international ransomware ring known as NetWalker.

June 24 - Despite being unable to determine the exact impact money laundering has on home prices, the real estate sector is of top concern to the Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in B.C. Of the 101 recommendations Commissioner Austin Cullen made in his June 15 final report, 40 are directly related to real estate, and several others are ancillary, such as proposals to strengthen anti-money laundering (AML) policies within financial institutions and the asset forfeiture legal regime, as well as greater controls on notaries and lawyers, who process transactions.

June 23 - The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is informing U.S. financial institutions that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental body that establishes international standards for anti-money laundering, countering the financing of terrorism, and countering the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (AML/CFT/CPF), has issued public statements updating its lists of jurisdictions with strategic AML/CFT/CPF deficiencies following its plenary meeting this month.[1] U.S. financial institutions should consider the FATF’s stance toward these jurisdictions when reviewing their obligations and risk-based policies, procedures, and practices.[2] On June 17, 2022, the FATF removed Malta from its list of Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring and added Gibraltar.

June 20 - The accounting firm KPMG claims it has been "cleared of any wrongdoing" by a months-long Canada Revenue Agency criminal probe into an offshore tax scheme that allowed wealthy Canadians to receive tax-free funds. "KPMG fully and voluntarily cooperated with a thorough investigation. The investigation concluded and KPMG was cleared of any wrongdoing," KPMG spokesperson Tenille Kennedy said in a brief email on Tuesday.

June 20 - Canada’s reputation as a money laundering haven dug its heels in last week. Despite big talk on tackling money laundering, Canada isn’t making much progress. That was one of the findings from BC’s inquiry last week. Increasingly complex laws aren’t acting as a deterrent, and appear to be designed to catch no one. Tracking beneficial ownership is quickly becoming one of those issues. Canadian Member of Parliament (MP) Adam Chambers hopes to fix that with a new members’ bill. The MP proposes severe criminal penalties for those who knowingly provide false beneficial ownership information. If adopted, Canada might go from one of the easiest places to hide money, to having some of the strictest penalties for non-compliance. Will partisanship get in the way of progress in fighting Canada’s laundering problem? Here’s a quick primer on the issue.

June 17 - Jurisdictions under increased monitoring are actively working with the FATF to address strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. When the FATF places a jurisdiction under increased monitoring, it means the country has committed to resolve swiftly the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes and is subject to increased monitoring. This list is often externally referred to as the “grey list”.