August 04 - Banks with powerful CEO's and smaller, less independent, boards are more likely to take risks and be susceptible to money laundering, according to new research led by the University of East Anglia (UEA). The study tested for a link between bank risk and enforcements issued by US regulators for money laundering in a sample of 960 publicly listed US banks during the period 2004-2015.

August 04 - The US District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands has unsealed an indictment filed in August 2019 against three people, including two senior executives of Imperial Pacific International, for alleged conspiracy to hire illegal workers and money laundering. The charges, related to construction of IPI’s Saipan resort and casino Imperial Palace‧Saipan, include one count each of RICO conspiracy and conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens, 32 counts of harboring illegal aliens, 32 counts of unlawful employment of aliens and five counts of international promotional money laundering.

August 03 - Scandal-plagued German FinTech pioneer Wirecard counted among its payments processing clients an online casino that laundered money for an arm of “one of Europe’s most dangerous mafia organizations,” the Financial Times reported on Monday (August 3). The paper cited documents and “Italian legal sources” in its story about the organized crime syndicate ’Ndrangheta and CenturionBet, an online gaming company based in Malta.

July 31 - The rapid – and mainstream – rise of gaming and esports is not all good news for those in the market. With an increase in economic opportunity comes a greater exposure to legal issues. Online game developers currently find themselves managing a market for buying and selling in-game downloadable content – and for crediting and debiting consumers’ in-game accounts. This is now a market worth billions of dollars a year, subjecting developers and their platforms to the risk of being a target for money laundering. Combating money laundering is not only an obligation that is being placed on banks and other financial institutions.

July 30 - There is no doubt that digital currencies provide benefits for an individual, a company and an institution by facilitating better access to financial products and services. Money laundering costs the global economy between $800 billion and $2 trillion annually, according to a United Nations report. This amounts to 2%–5% of the global gross domestic product. Today, more than 90% of money laundering still goes undetected. Developments in technology, however, have resulted in newer and faster tools. Criminals use these advancements to continue laundering money. At the same time, government authorities and fintech companies leverage technology to identify transaction attributes and help to expose fraud.

July 29 - Shell companies with hidden owners. Middlemen who shield the identities of buyers and sellers. Inadequate safeguards to keep out shady money. It's all part of the ultra-secretive art world, according to a bipartisan Senate investigation released Wednesday. And that's why it's susceptible to money laundering and sanctions evasion, the report found.

July 27 - Sparkasse has been slapped with a €217,635 fine by Malta’s anti-money laundering unit (FIAU) after an inspection found “serious shortcomings” in the bank’s money laundering safeguards. The Sliema-based bank hit the headlines in 2018 for its role in approving suspicious transactions by local investment firm Portmann Capital as part of an alleged Malta-Venezuela money-laundering scheme using funds embezzled from PDVSA, Venezuela’s state-owned oil company.