AML Conversations

This week, John and Elliot discuss the recent Wolfsberg 25th Anniversary Forum, the outcomes of the G7 meeting of Finance Ministers and central bank governors, the Manhattan D.A.'s office return of looted antiquities to Peru, a proposed bill in the US Senate concerning Russia sanctions, and other items impacting the financial crime prevention community.

This week, John and Elliot discuss new Russian sanctions from the Council of the European Union, new UK AML requirements for art dealers, a call to action from FATF, Interpol, and UNODC, AUSTRAC's second public consultation on new AML/CTF rules, an alert from NYDFS about scammers impersonating crypto service providers, and other items impacting the financial crime prevention community.

In this episode of AML Conversations, Joe McNamara, Director of Solutions Marketing at AML RightSource, sits down with Vesna McCreery, a seasoned financial crime compliance expert and Managing Director at AML RightSource, to dissect the alarming rise in global fraud. Together, they explore the historical divergence and recent convergence between fraud prevention and AML functions, the trillion-dollar scale of the fraud problem, and how digitalization, AI-driven deepfakes, and cross-border criminal networks are transforming the landscape. Vesna draws on international comparisons—highlighting Australia's standout success in reducing fraud through real-time public-private partnerships—and shares actionable insights on integrating biometric controls, enhancing data utilization, and reducing false positives in financial institutions. This conversation delivers critical takeaways for professionals navigating the evolving threats in financial crime.

Learn how the changing tariff environment can impact your third-party risk management program.

This week, John and Elliot discuss updates to the US Department of Justice corporate enforcement policy, the OCC's priority areas, Transparency International's report on corruption's role in fueling arms diversion, and other items impacting the financial crime prevention community.

In this episode of AML Conversations, Joe McNamara sits down with David Lutz, Senior Director of the Financial Crimes Advisory group at AML RightSource, to demystify the concept of blockchain hops and explore the evolving challenges in crypto compliance. The conversation highlights the nuances of tracing crypto transactions across multiple intermediaries and the balance between leveraging blockchain data and establishing defensible, risk-based compliance frameworks. They also discuss the implications of blockchain immutability, the regulator's perspective, and the necessary institutional readiness to engage in the digital assets space.

This week, John and Elliot discuss a large fentanyl bust at the southern border, a fraud case, and an AML case in Charlotte, remarks by the AMLA Chairman about the organization's top three priorities, activity at the House Financial Services Committee about cryptocurrency, a paper from the Basel Institute for Governance on the importance of asset recovery in the current environment, and other items impacting the financial crime prevention community.

The Jewelers Vigilance Committee General Counsel Sara Yood and Assistant Counsel Liz Fraccaro discuss advocacy, training, and raising awareness needs of the jewelry industry.

This week, John and Elliot discuss remarks for the former head of CISA and an open letter from JP Morgan Chase's CISO about cybersecurity, allegations from the European Public Prosecutor's Office about corruption in the European Court of Auditors, a GAO report about the need of Inspectors General for beneficial information to detect fraud in federal programs, reports of law enforcement opposition to the rollback of the CTA, and other items impacting the financial crime prevention community.

This week, John and Elliot discuss the UNODC's technical policy brief on the expanding activity of Asian crime syndicates, a policy brief on high-level corruption from Project FALCON, a blog post from the FACT Coalition how high gold prices are fueling guerilla warfare in Columbia, the NCA's effort in 2024 to interdict fraud and its focus on online fraud involving AI, and other items impacting the financial crime prevention community.

Nasdaq Verafin's EVP and Head of Financial Crime Technology, Stephanie Champion, discusses their 2024 Global Crime Report, highlighting the key concerns of AML professionals and how to approach the need for action.

This week, John and Elliot discuss the SEC's statement on offerings and registrations of securities in the crypto asset markets, the UK requirement for identity verification for corporate directors and controlling owners, FinCEN's renewal of geographic targeting orders relating to residential real estate, FCA's updated Financial Crime Guide, and other items impacting the financial crime prevention community.

This week, John and Elliot discuss FinCEN's Financial Trend Analysis, on fentanyl-related illicit finance, the OCC's disclosure of an email breach, the Department of Justice's announcement of a change in focus of its policy on prosecuting crypto crime, the fines against Revolut Bank, the increase in real estate by oligarchs in New York, and other items impacting the financial crime prevention community.

John Tobon sits down with us and discusses his over 30-year career battling financial crime at US Customs and HSI.

This week, John and Elliot discuss Transparency International's Opacity in Real Estate Ownership Index, FinCEN's alert on bulk cash smuggling by Mexican cartels, IRS-CI's release of 2024 BSA metrics, and its CI-FIRST initiative, Congressional hearings by a House Financial Services subcommittee, and other items impacting the financial crime prevention community.

Alison K. Jimenez, President of Dynamic Securities Analytics, Inc., and Steven Kemmerling, Founder & CEO of CRB Monitor, discuss the value of AML analytics in AML/CTF compliance.

This week, John and Elliot discuss the OCC's announcement that national banks will no longer be examined for reputational risk, an FTC report on the growth of payment fraud, a report from the University of Trier in Germany showing that money laundering directly causes an increase in housing prices, the decision to stop funding a national database tracking domestic terrorism, hate crimes and school shootings, and other items impacting the financial crime prevention community.

This week, John and Elliot discuss the 2024 Annual Report from ICIJ, OCCRP's reporting on the UK's enhanced enforcement activities, FATF's Second Public Consultation on Recommendation 16, the Basel Institute on Governance's Project Falcon, the New Zealand national risk assessment, and other items impacting the financial crime prevention community.

Hanjo Seibert, a Managing Director of BCG, outlines the importance of technology in compliance and compliance itself to address fraud in 2025.

In this edition of AML RightSource Voices, we're exploring the impact of cannabis legalization on financial institutions (FI). What has changed? What hasn't? And what can FIs do? Chuck Taylor, AML RightSource's Executive Vice President and Head of Financial Crimes Advisory and Elliot Berman, AML RightSource's AML/BSA Thought Leader will discuss the current state of law and regulation of FI activities with participants in the cannabis and hemp industries, possible changes in the landscape, and how some FIs are interacting with this customer segment today.

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Elliot Berman, AML RightSource Marketing Advisor, sits down with Senior Analyst Diane Dylinski to discuss her experience writing a blog article which was later published on the firm's website. Elliot and Diane guide the listeners through the guest authorship process from topic approval to content editing and final publication. Diane also shares her thoughts on earning AML University credits as well as the rewarding sense of accomplishment as an AMLRS published author.

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In this episode of AML Conversations, John sits down to discuss the AML challenges and successes in the gaming industry with the former Senior Director of Gaming Policy at the American Gaming Association (AGA), Elizabeth Cronan. Now the Vice President Government Relations at Geoguard, Cronan elaborates on various themes in enforcement actions, the rise of mobile and on-line gaming, and the increase in sports betting.

In the second episode of our AML Conversations series with members of IRSCI, John Byrne sits down with Greg Monahan, IRS Supervisory Special Agent of the Cyber Crimes Unit and Chris Janczewski, IRS Special Agent in the Pittsburgh office.  Together, they discuss the impact of cybercrime both in the US and abroad. Additionally, John and Chris go through two major cases, one on a group selling child pornography for Bitcoin, and another investigation that resulted in prosecution of a Chinese money launderer. These agents also offer “red flag indicators” for financial institutions to spot cyber threats, discuss the importance of IRS partnering with other agencies, and working with the private sector.

In this episode of AML Conversations, John Byrne interviews David Stewart, Director, Financial Services Industry, Fraud & Security Intelligence Practice for SAS Institute Inc. David has spent many years in the AML/Financial Crime space and his insight is sought by many in our community. During their discussion, John and David discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on his global team, how he sees compliance after the “new normal” and the recent SAS paper, “What is next- generation AML?.” The paper delves into issues such as innovation, model governance and how to manage AML and fraud.

In this episode of AML Conversations, John sits down with Sara Crowe, Strategic Initiatives Director, Financial Systems for the Polaris Project. Sara leads Polaris's efforts to partner with the financial services industry to implement a comprehensive and industry-wide strategy to intervene in the crime of human trafficking. This initiative aims to 1) disrupt human trafficking businesses on a global scale by using existing financial system structures and processes (such as anti-money laundering and economic sanctions frameworks) to decrease the profitability of sex and labor trafficking while increasing the risk to traffickers; 2) shift financing practices to reward businesses with good labor conditions; and 3) bolster financial resiliency of vulnerable populations and trafficking survivors through financial inclusion initiatives. During their discussion, John and Sara cover issues related to the crimes of human trafficking during the pandemic, the value of partnering with the financial sector and how to get engaged in any of a variety of projects supporting the detection and prevention of human trafficking.

Beyond IP, the role of geolocation data in combating AML and fraud. John Byrne sits down with David Briggs, CEO and Co-Founder of GeoGuard and GeoComply, to discuss the limitations of IP addresses and the role that advanced geolocation data can play in AML and in fighting other types of financial fraud, FinCEN's recent guidance on encouraging innovative responses to COVID-19 fraud, and how to improve the BSA/AML data analysis infrastructure.

Steve Gurdak, Group Supervisory of the Northern Virginia Financial Initiative discusses the work of his SAR Review team, the importance of law enforcement collaboration when working SARS and the importance of SAR narratives.

Erik Vingelen - COVID-19 AML Resource Challenges by AML RightSource

Self-Awareness is like the crust of a tasty quiche. The crust, prepared separately, serves as the foundation within which all other ingredients reside. Just like a tasty quiche, Emotional Intelligence has a ‘crust' or foundation called Self-Awareness on which all other competencies are developed. This podcast discusses Self-Awareness in more detail plus provides a framework for intentional discovery.

Marilu Jimenez sits down with Andy Fernandez, partner at Holland & Knight an a leading expert in sanctions compliance. The sanctions regime has become increasingly more complex. We discussed the recent guidance OFAC issued in the summer on culture. Also, two particular types of sanctions were discussed which are extremely relevant in the US and Latin American markets: the rollback of the general licenses related to Cuba and the complexity of the Venezuelan sanctions.

In this episode of We Are Our Heroes, Chelsea Robbins and Joe McNamara sit down with Coletun Long and Chad Squires, both of whom have successfully completed their advanced CAMS certification in Financial Crimes Investigation. During their discussion, Coletun and Chad walk through the decision and execution processes that lead them to pursuing and attaining their advanced certifications. The crew also talks about opportunities in the industry, the culture at AML RightSource, and more!

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This week, John and Elliot discuss the Geographic Targeting Orders issued by FinCEN, a letter from two senators to the US Treasury about the Corporate Transparency Act, a new report on the looting of Latin American antiquities by cartels, legislation introduced combat debanking, and other items impacting the financial crime prevention community.

This week, John and Elliot discuss the latest pronouncements from the US Treasury about the Corporate Transparency Act, the new head of the Treasury's Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, the case of theft from a non-profit to support cancer patients, the 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index from Transparency International, and other items impacting the financial crime prevention community.

The challenges of “knowing” your counterparty, beneficial ownership, and using data-driven tools to attack financial crime are global goals. In this conversation, Kyckr COO Steve Lamb discusses the BO landscape, corporate registries, FATF guidance, and how verification is a key AML-related tool.

This week, John and Elliot discuss the results of the February FATF Plenary, GAO reports on BOI, and Assessing Progress on Countering Criminal Activity, new sanctions issued by the UK and EU against Russia, the latest on the requirement to file BOI with FinCEN, priorities of the Acting Comptroller of the Currency, and other items impacting the financial crime prevention community.

This week, John and Elliot discuss more about corruption, including the fallout from the effort to drop the charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, another publication from the Basel Institute on Governance on the UK's process for compensating victims of foreign bribery, and a statement from the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition. They also discuss the recent staffing changes at the IRS and other federal agencies, Operation Shamrock, a group dedicated to raising awareness of pig butchering and disrupting networks of transnational organized criminals, and other items impacting the financial crime prevention community.

Legal issues are only one element of third-party risk. Learn what other risks your program should detect and mitigate.

Forced labor and human rights issues are serious risks in the supply chain. Learn how adequate due diligence can help detect and interdict these activities.

As companies grow, they face an ever-increasing number of third-party providers. Learn how to scale your third-party risk management program effectively to meet this challenge.

This week, John and Elliot discuss corruption, including the dropping of charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, the Basel Institute on Governance's new quick guide on strategic corruption, and the DOJ's pausing enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. They also discuss issues raised by BaFin about AI-based fraud, actions by Europol on cybercrime, and other items impacting the financial crime prevention community.

Learn how AI can improve due diligence activities in your third-party risk management program.

This week, John and Elliot discuss remarks by the president of the Basel Institute on Governance on its new priorities in addressing corruption, environment, and climate challenges. They also reviewed the FATF 2023-2024 Report, new expectations from the FCA on fraud reimbursements, progress on the EU's new anti-corruption legislation, congressional hearings on debanking, turmoil at the FBI, and other items impacting the financial crime prevention community.

Learn about different aspects of structuring an effective third-party risk due diligence program.

Ari Redbord, Global Head of Policy and Government Affairs at TRM Labs, discusses their 2024 Crypto Crime Report, Trump's Executive Order on digital assets and related issues for 2025.

This week, John and Elliot discuss FDIC's recission of job offers to 200 new examiners, an alert about check fraud through theft of US mail, an announcement that Belize is the most compliant with FATF's 40 recommendations, FINTRAC's operational alert about Laundering the proceeds of illicit synthetic opioids, the Senate Banking Committee's inquiry into debanking, and other items impacting the financial crime prevention community.

Les Joseph, a career financial crime prevention expert, discusses several options for combatting this crime, including A Fraud Czar….

Learn how changing technologies can support your third-party risk management program.