Wednesday, September 21, 2016

NINE MONTHS FOR MONEY LAUNDERING, ON THE ISLE OF MAN, IS NO DETERRENT AT ALL


Let the punishment fit the crime; on the Isle of Man, that is not, apparently how the justice system works. A former fisherman, who confessed to moving what he believed to be drug money, out of the Isle of Man, and into the United Kingdom,  received a short nine month sentence, for his crimes, which involved sixty illicit transactions.

What is even worse is the fact that the judge opined that he received the sentence because he posed a moderate rick of reoffending. Taking someone out of circulation for such a short time, when you are worried he will return to money laundering, makes no sense. Also, how can one believe that such a sentence will deter others, who might be tempted to make such easy money this way ?

One more item: the other two defendants in the case got no prison time; one a suspended sentence, and the other, who cooperated, received community service. No wonder money laundering is out of control.



Contributed by Kenneth Rijock
Chronicles of Monte Friesner

Sunday, September 18, 2016

HAMAS SUPPORTERS IN CHILE SUPPORT TERRORIST FINANCING



The Republic of Chile has the largest number of Palestinians, and individuals descended from Palestinian immigrants, outside of the Middle East. Conservative estimates range from 500,000 to 700,000. Many Chilean Palestinians are rabid supporters of Hamas, and this poses a serious problem for compliance officers at financial institutions located in North America, due to potential terrorist financing & funding issues, due to the serious civil penalties that are imposed for violations.

Ordinarily, we regard Chile as low threat, for Country Risk purposes. It is neither a drug producing, nor drug transit, country, and it is not a major money laundering destination, though I am aware that the free trade zones have been used as such, in the past.  It has a powerful business sector, and enjoys a close economic relationship with the United States.



The problem is that Chileans of Palestinian descent identify with Hamas, notwithstanding its status as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) organization. Palestinian organizations located in Chile repeatedly seek to interfere with trade between Israel and Chile; the recently sought to interfere with a visit, to Santiago, the capital, by two members of Israel's Knesset, the country's Parliament. Much of the anti-Israel agitation comes from local Palestinian NGOs.

These Palestinian organizations, which include the Palestinian Federation of Chile, the General Union of Palestinian Students, the Bethlehem Foundation, and the Palestinian Social Club, are well funded, as many descendants of the original immigrants have created successful businesses. They are not known to seek funding from the Middle East.


Most of the Chilean Palestinians are not Muslim, but Christian; their ancestors fled Muslim abuse and violence, as well as conscription into the Turkish Ottoman Army.  They should have no fond memories of their original family experiences, but they have apparently created a fantasy about where they came from, and now throw in their lot with the worst that Palestine has to offer - Hamas. Someone should tell them that Hamas has a history of abusing Christians in Gaza.

Therefore, you can expect many affluent Chileans of Palestinian descent to provide material support to Hamas, and those donations expose international banks, that handle funds from Chile, to possible terrorist financing risks. It is prudent for compliance officers to consider those risks, when accepting wire transfers whose ultimate destination might be Hamas, or to pay for goods and services that would benefit Hamas. If your bank clients engage in trade with Chile, or you have wealthy Chilean customers, keep the risk of terrorist financing in mind, when conducting due diligence. 



Contributed by Kenneth Rijock
Chronicles of Monte Friesner

WANTED SA - EXPOSES LAWYERS AT MOSSACK FONSCEA ABANDON SHIP, HIDE THEIR PAST ON THEIR RESUMES



This is our second article, naming current, and former, attorneys at the Panama City law firm of Mossack and Fonseca. We say former, because a number of the experienced lawyers at Mossack have not only jumped ship for other employment, some have gone so far as to delete any reference to the time they opened BVI corporations for corrupt PEPs, tax evaders, and drug traffickers at the law firm.

One former MF staff attorney told the press that he was only the Managing Director for a short while, that he had a minor role, and that he swiftly resigned, some time ago. A quick look at the ICIJ materials, however,showed him as the designated intermediary for many companies that were formed at MF.

After the end of the Second World War, German soldiers who had served in the Schutzstaffel, the SS, were designated as war criminals, and subject to punishment, by military tribunals. The Mossack Fonseca attorneys all participated in what many consider organized crime,  a racketeer-influenced criminal organization. They are all tainted, for their role in hiding their dirty clients, and their money, behind opaque bearer share companies, and counterfeit foundations. They do not deserve to lateral into  legitimate law firms, where they may be tempted to contact their old clientele, and endanger their new employers, with criminal activity, at a new location.

THIERRY ULMANN
SANDRO HANGARTNER
ANDREAS AVEBONI
RIGOBERTO CORONADO
ALEXANDRA KOURANY
AMAURI BATISTA
SARA MONTENEGRO
LUIS A QUIEL
AUSTIN CHEUNG a/k/a ZHANG XIAODONE

Contributed by Kenneth Rijock
Chronicles of Monte Friesner

Saturday, September 17, 2016

FRAUDSTER GARY LUNDGREN ATTEMPTS, UNSUCCESSFULLY, TO BLOCK OUR ARTICLES ABOUT PANAMA WALL STREET


Gary Lundgren

If you have not yet read our article on the Panama Wall Street scandal, entitled "Panama's Securities Regulator Intervenes in Company linked to  Gary Lundgren", it is recommended that you review it. Hackers reportedly linked to the FINRA-disbarred American securities broker, Gary Lundgren, have been trying, without success to, deny access to that article, and others, using what is commonly known as a DDoS attack, where the hackers flood the website with requests to display the article.

The hack, as you can see if you access the article, through the link provided above, is an utter failure, but Gary Lundgren, the Panama City based fraudster, and vendor of bogus High Yield Investment Programs to unsuspecting American investors, and whose long criminal career we have extensively covered on this blog, will certainly try, try, try again.

Panama sources continue to report that Lundgren's grown children, ZacGary Lundgren, and James Lundgren, are assisting him in his illegal, unregistered, and fraudulent broker-dealer activities, working out of an unlicensed company in Panama City. They are also not licensed to sell securities in any jurisdiction.

ZacGary Lundgren
James Lundgren

Contributed by Kenneth Lundgren
Posted by Andrei Slavenkov

CAYMAN INSIDER SAYS GOVERNMENT ORDERED RCIPS TO IGNORE CAYMAN GANG OF FOUR $450m FRAUD FOR POLITICAL PURPOSES



A reliable local source in Grand Cayman, who has a contact inside the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA), has asserted that he has been advised that a senior official in the Government has given a direct order to the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service, telling it not to charge any of the locally-based financial professionals, popularly known as the Cayman Gang of Four, with their $450m theft of securities and bank accounts of Canadian pensioners, in 2014 and 2015.

The source has learned that none of the foreign nationals are to be charged with the massive fraud, for purely political reasons. There has been serious scrutiny, by agencies of the United Kingdom, of the increasing amount of financial crime, and Cayman officials rightly fear possible intervention, at a number of levels. The local impact, of the UK action in the Turks & Caicos Islands, on Cayman, and other British Overseas Territories, should not be underestimated; Caymanians fear intervention, of some type, and are concerned that a prominent criminal case, involving Gang members Ryan Bateman, Derek Buntain, and Sharon Lamb, who are two Canadians, and a national from the Isle of Man, could further expose the Cayman Islands to UK action.


It is no accident that three of the most senior positions in the RCIPS have recently been given to law enforcement professionals from the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, when promotion from within the ranks would have been more in line with the principles of community policing, where local officers, who come from, and therefore better understand the community they are working in, generally ascend to senior positions, through merit.

Rumors, emanating from other quarters, indicate that RCIPS management was bluntly told to conduct a thorough and extensive investigation, but not to proceed to indictment, which places political agendas before the protection of the public. One observer claims that the RCIPS will not charge any foreign national with financial crime, again to maintain a low profile for UK observers, and not to give them any excuse to interfere in what Caymanians view as purely internal affairs. Sharon Lexa Lamb was allegedly told to leave Grand Cayman, so that questions about her arrest would not be asked; Ryan Bateman was long gone, he having failed to return to face criminal charges. Derek Buntain is in hiding, somewhere in Canada, so there are no Gang members still residing in Grand Cayman.


Let us hope that you find all this as offensive as I do. 


Contributed by Kenneth Rijock
Chronicles of Monte Friesner
Posted by Andrei Slavenkov

Thursday, September 15, 2016

DID LEON FRAZER COMPLIANCE OFFICER COMMIT PERJURY IN AFFIDAVIT ?




As the discovery phase, in the Canadian civil case styled Lawrence Heath, et al vs. Leon Frazer and Associates, Inc., unfolds, we have examined what appears to be a very disturbing document, filed in the case. It is an affidavit, containing information submitted by, and executed by, Leon Frazer's current  compliance officer, Alexander Adeniyi, that is sworn to be true, but this does not appear to be the case.

Perhaps a little background is in order; Lawrence Heath QC, a 90-year old retired Canadian lawyer, had his investments placed with William Tynkaluk, his personal financial advisor at Leon Frazer & Associates, Inc., an Ontario-based wealth management firm. The suit involves $10.2m, of the plaintiff's investments and cash, which is missing and unaccounted for. Leon Frazer had a fiduciary responsibility to safeguard the assets of the plaintiff.

The plaintiff's counsel sought to obtain copies of his accounts at Leon Frazer, in November 2015, and the firm's Chief Compliance Officer, Esida Selfo, represented and confirmed, both orally and in emails, that she had retrieved, from firm archives, 14 to 16 boxes of files and documents, pertaining to the plaintiff. Selfo assured counsel that it would be receiving copies of all documents.

Subsequently to the failure of Leon Frazer to produce the relevant documents and files, notwithstanding its prior repeated promises, and undertaking that it would comply, only a small number of documents were made available to counsel, and these were now represented to be the sum total of the files of the plaintiff. Obviously, this is not only a violation of discovery procedures, but verges upon Obstruction of Justice. The document produced do not even cover a fraction of the period during which the plaintiff held accounts at Leon Frazer.

Ms. Selfo's position, as Chief Compliance Officer at Leon Frazer, was terminated, allegedly due to her pregnancy, and counsels' efforts to secure the documents promised to them were answered then by a new employee (joined 2016), Alexander Adeniyi, who identified himself as her successor, and as the individual who would be handling the matter. Calls from counsel to Leon Frazer executives were universally ignored.

Chief Compliance Officer Adeniyi

Taking into account the facts that you have just read, explain how Compliance Officer Adeniyi then files a detailed affidavit, controverting his predecessor's statements, and claiming that she was mistaken, regarding the books and records, stated that the small quantity of records produced were the sum total of what the company found. In truth and in fact, the affidavit is obviously untrue, given the other verified information on hand, and is either perjury, or failure to conduct due diligence, if the facts were concealed from the compliance officer, by Leon Frazer, and he signed a sworn affidavit, containing material misstatements of fact.

Spoliation of evidence occurs when it is intentionally withheld, hidden, fabricated, altered or destroyed. I will let readers who are lawyers decide which category to place Leon Frazer & Associates in, but, clearly, there are issues of honesty and truth,  or the lack thereof.

We shall continue to follow the progress in the litigation, and report back to our readers upon all developments, as they occur, and are reflected in court filings.

____________________________________________________________________
* First, Leon Frazer staff stated that Ms. Selfo left her employment due to a serious illness; later, the allegation changed; it was stated that she left due to a pregnancy. The circumstances of her departure appear to be suspicious.  



Contributed by Kenneth Rijock
Posted by Andrei Slavenkov

REGIONAL CLONES OF ESTABLISHED NEWS RESOURCES MAY NOT BE TRUSTWORTHY


 

Most compliance officers conducting due diligence investigations rely extensively upon what they consider to be objective news sources for reliable information. these generally include establishment Western news publications, be they newspaper or newsmagazine.

This is not always true, however, when we rely upon sources that are spin-offs of the real thing. The authoritative Newsweek has been regarded as reliable source of information, but in 2015, the newsmagazine's ownership sold naming rights to a dubai-based Pakistani media mogul, who formed Newsweek Middle East*. The Middle East edition, which admittedly trades upon the international branding, and reputation of the parent, is something quite different: its staff is not practicing the objective journalism we require for compliance purposes. Several commentators have joined in concluding that the news coverage is slanted; if it's going to be like Al-Jazeera, it should not pretend to be something else.

Article about how the Gulf countries will not like if Americans can sue them for 9/11

This publication, specifically targeting for a regional audience, with local editorial staff, who describe themselves as having non-Western viewpoints, actually displays not only anti-American sentiments, in its news coverage, it has been known to favor specially designated global terrorist organizations. How does anti-Western sentiment figure into objective journalism.

Last week, a journalist described as being a senior editor was outed for giving a number of television news reports that, frankly, glorified Hezbollah. Her statements, collected over a period of time, and rebroadcast online, sounded like typical Hezbollah pro-Iran, pro-Syria propaganda. Furthermore,  Newsweek Middle East, while it carries a number of its parent's articles, censors, or, as they call it, "curates" the content for Arab audiences. One staff member confessed that the publication had to check local (UAE) law, before printing an article written by an individual from Israel. Do I really think I can get factual accuracy from a publication like this ?



Compliance officers do NOT wants news sources slanted to pander to a specific viewpoint, censored to remove any potentially sensitive or "objectionable" content, and supporting any sanctioned entity. You may want to draw a lesson from this story, and always check your sources carefully, to verify that you are actually accessing the information resource you want, and not its clone, successor, poser, or pretender; Always use the real McCoy.


____________________________________________________________________
* Note how the "Middle East" portion of the magazine's name is conveniently lower case.

Contributed by Kenneth Rijock
Chronicles of Monte Friesner

MAYER MIZRACHI DISGRACE TO SEPHARDIC MAFIA IN PANAMA

PANAMA'S POSTER BOY FOR CORRUPTION FAILS TO SHOW UP FOR HIS MONEY LAUNDERING HEARING


Mayer Mizrachi, the son of fugitive Aron Mizrachi, and himself deported from Colombia, to face corruption and money laundering charges in Panama, failed to attend a mandatory hearing this week, on the money laundering aspect of his criminal case. The fact that no warrant was issued for his arrest  demonstrates the sheer power of the country's Sephardic organized crime syndicate, which virtually rules Panama, through bribes & kickbacks, and the placement of its members in all levels of the government.

Mayer's attorney, who did attend the hearing, is Ana Isabel Belfon Vejas, who was the Attorney General under the administration of Panama's now-fugitive former President, Ricardo Martinelli. Belfon has been accused of failing to bring criminal charges, in the Financial Pacific scandal, and killing the investigation, of ignoring Panama's rampant money laundering for five years, and of failing to return $4.2m, taken from a defendant who was acquitted, all during her tenure as Fiscal. I once had the dubious pleasure of seeing her have lunch, in public, with a Venezuelan national with known criminal links. She didn't care who saw her.

If Mayer Mizrachi is not convicted, and imprisoned, for his role in cheating the Government of Panama out of millions of dollars, the country's criminal justice system, riddled with corruption, will be further exposed as a sick joke played upon the people it is supposed to protect. We can only hope that the United States extradites him, to face the music, for laundering his criminal proceeds through American banks. The judges in the United States actually arrest defendants who fail to appear in court.

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

SHARON LEXA LAMB: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS PERSON IN THE LAST 30 DAYS ?




Sharon Lexa Lamb is missing from her residence in Grand Cayman, and is believed to be on the run. The retired Canadian attorney who has brought a suit against her, in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, has offered a reward, the details of which appear in the poster above.

If you have seen Miss Lamb, in the last 30 days, you are urged to contact the number listed. She could possibly be in the Isle of Man, or Belize, the Republic of Cuba, the Bahamas, or Bermuda. Do not attempt to approach her. If you have any relevant information, kindly call the toll-free number shown.

Contributed by Kenneth Rijock
Posted by Andrei Slavenkov
Chronicles of Monte Friesner

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

COMPLIANCE DILEMMA: BLACK PROTEST GROUPS THROW IN THEIR LOT WITH DANGEROUS BEDFELLOWS



If you are closely watching the rhetoric coming from Black activist groups of late, you know that they have aligned themselves with Middle Eastern and Arab organizations, and as a result, are now making policy statements against Israel, in support of BDS (which is now illegal in several states), and proclaiming pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel, and at times, even anti-semitic, dogma.

These positions, which vilify Israel, and by derivation, Jews, claiming that Israel is a "colonial" usurper of its national territory, which cause the Black movement to lose credibility with mainstream Americans, as history teaches us that Arab Palestinians' arrival in the region they now claim only occurred in the twentieth century, but Biblical Israel existed 3500 years ago, and Jews have lived in what is now Israel, continuously, since that time. Arabs are native solely to the Arabian Peninsula, and not to any other area of the Middle East, or North Africa, where they themselves displaced the local indigenous populations; they are the only true colonial power in the region, not Israel. The other argument, that Israel is, like the US, racist, which has no basis in fact, when the country has two million Arabs living freely with its borders, is merely a restatement of Arab enmity towards Israel.

Somewhere, Dr. Martin Luther King, who was a strong supporter of a democratic Israel, which practices freedom of religion, and whose American Civil Rights struggle was supported by American Jewish organizations, is turning over in his grave; the present group of activists gets an "F" grade in Black History; they have forgotten their old friends. If you choose to move too far to the left, you may acquire strange bedfellows you will regret onboarding later.

You are free to agree, or disagree, with my interpretation of the the Arab-Israeli conflict, but here in the United States, financial institution compliance officers must deal with the looming and ever-present threat of terrorist financing, and the consequences of conducting transactions with individuals, or entities, labeled by OFAC as SDGT, or SDN, due to terrorist affiliations.

The fear is that, while becoming more and more enmeshed with their new Arab Palestinian allies, that one or more of the Black activist organizations will, knowingly, or unwittingly, accept funding from Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or other OFAC-sanctioned groups, through front organizations, or intermediaries, and by doing so, violate American sanctions, which prohibit any transactions with designated terrorist organizations.

Hamas, among others, has a long history of seeking to raise funds in the United States, through charitable entities that front for it. Remember the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development ? Making a contribution to an American activist group, through a front not publicly identified as such, is easier than you think, especially when the US-based group, eager to receive funds, will not be looking too closely as donors.

We do not even know whether all of the NGOs that comprise the Black activist groups have designated, full-time compliance officers, and access to commercial off-the-shelf databases of known terrorists, and OFAC-sanctioned, individuals and entities. Their records do not appear to be transparent, and perhaps they should be.

The bottom line: unless the Black activist organizations now adopt banking best practices AML/CFT compliance programs, there is a substantial risk that Hamas, or some other terrorist group, will drop in funding, with potentially harmful consequences, not only for the activists, but for their banks as well.  



Contributed by Kenneth Rijock
Chronicles of Monte Friesner
Posted by Andrei Slavenkov

Sunday, September 11, 2016

LEST WE FORGET: 9/11 FIFTEEN YEARS AFTER



2606 in the World Trade Center, and on the ground surrounding the buildings.
125 in the Pentagon.
265 on board the four aircraft.

Rest in peace.


Contributed by Kenneth Rijock
Chronicles of Monte Friesner

Saturday, September 10, 2016

IN WAKE OF DIVERSION OF ITS FUNDS TO HAMAS, WORLD VISION TERMINATES ITS GAZA CONTRACTORS


In the Aftermath of the arrest, in Israel, of the Gaza manager of the Christian charity, Global Vision, on terrorist financing charges, the charity has announced that it is terminating all its Gaza-based contractors. Approximately 120 individuals are reportedly affected, and all Gaza programs of World Vision have been suspended, according to the charity's spokesperson.

The Global Vision operations manager for Gaza, Mohammad El Halabi, is accused of illegally diverting approximately $7m a year, of the Charity's funds, to Hamas. The diverted funds were used to purchase arms & ammunition, pay Hamas members, build fortifications, including an oceanfront military facility, and repair homes of Hamas agents. One source claims that Hamas intentionally directed that El Halaby become a World Vision employee, and if that is true, then all charitable entities operating in the Palestinian Territories should immediately ascertain whether any of their staff are members of any specially designated global terrorist organizations.

World Vision bank accounts in Jerusalem have been frozen by Israel, according to the charity, and it can no longer pay its Gaza contractors. A number of Western countries, who are donors, abruptly cut off aid to World Vision, after El Halaby was arrested and charged.

Questions have been raised about World Vision's defective global auditing procedures, since the massive diversion of funds took place over a period of several years, and whether illicit diversion of donated funds, by terrorists, is occurring in other countries where the charity operates.


Contributed by Kenneth Rijock
Chronicles of Monte Friesner

Friday, September 9, 2016

RAISE COUNTRY RISK FOR ANTIGUA & BARBUDA DUE TO CONTINUING CORRUPTION


Corruption in government continues to be a major problem in Antigua. The government and the judiciary have intentionally delayed the extradition of its former banking regulator, Leroy King, since 2009. King, who was the last participant in Stanford's massive Ponzi scheme, Stanford International Bank, is wanted in the US, but Antigua, which fears that all its senior leadership from that period will be named, as recipients of dirty money, including the man at the top, refuses to obey the rule of law. Unless the US ultimately receives Mr. King, relations between it and Antigua will be permanently damaged.

The Citizenship through Investment Program, which is the sale of passports to wealthy investors, notwithstanding their unsuitability, is a national scandal, and many government officials are now said to have repeatedly taken bribes and kickbacks in that program. Compliance officers, and immigration officials, in North America and the EU, now look carefully at all Antiguan passports.


In New York, the Federal indictment of an Antiguan ex-diplomat at the United Nations, with ties, again, to senior government officials, and allegations of bribery, meaning reputed payments to the then-Prime Minister, are ignored, and does not result in any action in Antigua.

The vulnerability to money laundering, and other financial crimes, at local financial institutions and money service businesses, reportedly remains high, according to the latest US State Department INCSR report (2016).

The alleged sale, or barter, by government, of National Honors, including Knighthoods, and their subsequent improper use in the United Kingdom, by the recipients, is yet one more national scandal that confirms anything is for sale in Antigua, even royal titles.

Systemic corruption, and deliberate avoidance of the rule of law in the court system, all add up to major exposure, for foreign investors, and even international banks, that decide to do business with, or in, Antigua. Under the circumstances, Country Risk should now be raised to a very high level for Antigua, for the net assessment of the risks involved in the investment of capital, and even conducting routine banking business, are uncomfortably high. Review the facts, and make your own independent determination, but consider carefully the issues shown above, before revising your own calculation of Country Risk.


Contributed by Kenneth Rijock
Chronicles of Monte Friesner

WHAT ABOUT ALL THE OTHER LAWYERS AT MOSSACK FONSECA ?



The Panama City law firm of Mossack Fonseca, exposed by the Panama Papers as an organization in business to hide the identities of their clients, and their dirty money, behind the shield of bearer share corporations, and bogus foundations, does not proudly share the names of its lawyers (except the two name partners) with the public. Go to the firm's large website, and while the firm extols the training, experience, legal education, and purported professional reputation, it does not, curiously enough, name its lawyers.

I have, in the past, been to the firm's offices, and there were no shingles posted, proudly naming the partners, associates, and of counsel who practice there. Given that these attorneys assist the firm's clerical staff in forming those non-transparent BVI companies, as well as corporations in far-flung, and often obscure, tax havens, for dodgy clients, they are a problem for compliance. Compliance officers should be aware of the names of these MF lawyers, for should they encounter one, while conducting a due diligence investigation, it is a major red flag, given the firm's long and sordid history of facilitating money laundering, tax evasion, and potentially, terrorist financing. As the gatekeeper, you know the dangers these individuals potentially pose to North American and EU financial institutions.

Therefore, since there is no official firm roster of MF lawyers, we will be extracting their names from publicly-available documents and web resources, and publishing them here. Finding any one of these lawyers' names on documents presented at account opening should set off alarms in your head, if not throughout your entire office.

Valentin Ureña III
Josette Roquebert
Li An Chong Vieto
Luis Eduardo Concepción
Ana Morales
Edison Teano
Ramses Owens
Daphne Durand

We shall endeavor to obtain the balance of the names and publish them here, as a public service. Remember, when the firm closes, these individuals will all be out there looking to lateral into another Panama law firm. Would you hire a lawyer who formed offshore companies for criminals at his or her last job ?


Contributed by Kenneth Rijock
Chronicles of Monte Friesner

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

AVOIDING THE CONSEQUENCES OF COMPLIANCE MALPRACTICE: PART ONE



If you are Compliance Officer, charged with protecting your financial institution, or MSB, from money launderers, financial criminals, and terrorist financiers, the personal and professional risks associated with failure to identify and suppress problems, what we now call compliance malpractice,  or professional negligence, have grown exponentially in recent years.

No longer are you only concerned with termination of your position, compliance failures now carry additional, and much more serious, risks, such as:

(1) Being unofficially blacklisted in the financial community, through word of mouth, poor employer references, and even telephone calls warning potential new employers off. You end up working outside the financial industry altogether, at a greatly reduced salary.

(2) Civil fines and penalties, imposed by a regulatory agency. You are also publicly named and shamed, in agency and law enforcement press releases, which remain online indefinitely, and stigmatize you professionally. You story will end up in the media, to your extreme embarrassment and chagrin. 


(3) Being suspended from your position and duties for a period of time by regulators, during which time you must be working somewhere else. The chances of returning to your original position generally become extremely slim, under those circumstances. More public shame accompanies this action, and your invitations to lecture at future compliance conferences and seminars, as a speaker, disappear.

(4) Being indicted, in a Federal criminal case, which generally means conviction and felony record, which, besides probation, or imprisonment, also brings with it a loss of Civil Rights. You spend time in a Federal Prison Camp, with low-level drug offenders, and after release, are further supervised for years, by the US Probation Office. It's like having a high school principal giving your orders, about where and when you can live, work, and whom you may associate with. Does that sound like fun ? It's not; You will become a pariah in your own community, and it will take years, if not decades, to repair your reputation and life.


In 2016, to avoid such untoward consequences, many compliance officers are doing what physicians, an often-sued profession, practice: we call it prevention. Go above and beyond the bare minimums, what we know as banking best practices, leaving ordinary, garden-variety due diligence behind, for total reliance upon enhanced due diligence, as a way of minimizing the risks of the compliance profession.

What are the most effective and efficient methods of performing enhanced due diligence ? I will discuss that in Part Two of this article; stay tuned.

Contributed by Kenneth Rijock
Chronicles of Monte Friesner

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

DONALD TRUMP SAYS IF HE IS ELECTED, HE WILL BAR ALL REMITTANCES FROM ILLEGAL ALIENS


He wants to ban remittances

If you did not see presidential candidate Donald Trump's immigration plan this week, you may have missed the part where he has promised that, if elected, he will use the USA PATRIOT Act to require all banks and money transmitters to confirm that senders of wire transfers and remittances are legally in the United States. Apparently, this is his scheme to make Mexico pay for the the construction of a wall, between America and Mexico, to cut off illegal immigration.

No only would such a program be impossible for financial institutions, and money service businesses, to effectively operate,  it probably violates a boatload (no pun intended) of existing US laws.


Contributed by Kenneth Rijock
Chronicles of Monte Friesner

Monday, September 5, 2016

MONTE FRIESNER EXPOSES: WHEN DO AMERICA'S BIGGEST PONZI SCHEMERS GET OUT OF PRISON ?




Lest you think that America's biggest Ponzi schemers skate on their crimes, after stealing millions from their victims, here is a list of the Federal prison sentences of the individuals that I have been covering on this blog in recent years. While the victims often lose their life savings, and feel that these sentences are often too light, I think that you will find that the punishment often fits the crime with these fraudsters.

If you are not familiar with any of them, use the search box on this blog, to locate their stories. I am listing the reported Bureau of Prison presumptive release date. Federal inmates must serve 85% of their sentences, and if they are guilty of infractions while incarcerated, they can lose that 15%, or a portion thereof, and be required to serve it as well.

(1) BERNARD MADOFF    (150 years)  November 14, 2139
(2) JOEL STEINGER           (20 years)     July 30, 2029
(3) NEVIN SHAPIRO          (20 years)     November 9, 2027
(4) SCOTT ROTHSTEIN    (50 years)      June 1, 2031 ? ( in WitSec-witness protection, no official estimated release date available)




Contributed By Kenneth Rijock
Chronicles of Monte Friesner

GERMAN MEDIA CLAIMS THREE IRANIAN BANKS WILL APPLY TO OPEN BRANCHES IN MUNICH


Parsian Bank

According to a leading Munich newspaper, three Iranian banks have advised the Minister of the Economy of the State of Bavaria that they have received approval, from Iran's Central Bank, to set up overseas branches, and that they all plan to open branches in Munich.



The banks are:
(1) Middle East Bank; head office, Tehran.
(2) Parsian Bank; head office, Tehran.
(3) Sina Bank; head office, Tehran.

What these bank branches will do to Country Risk assessments on Germany is something that compliance officers at EU banks will be considering, when these branches are approved, and become operational. 


Sina Bank

Contributed by Kenneth Rijock
Chronicles of Monte Friesner