Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering & Sanctions
Practice Overview
Compliance with Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money-laundering, counter-terrorism financing, and sanctions laws is a top priority for financial regulators and law enforcement, as evidenced by an ongoing drumbeat of significant enforcement actions. Failure to comply with this increasingly complicated regime of laws and regulations — and to meet tough regulatory expectations in doing so — can result in fines, indictments, and restrictions on corporate operations and transactions, as well as a loss of public confidence, reputation, and shareholder value.
Buckley’s core strength is in financial services regulation, and our team’s intimate knowledge of banks, money services businesses (MSBs), virtual currency businesses, and other participants in the payments industry, provides us valuable insights into each client’s specific needs and how to meet them.
Our BSA/AML team includes former banking enforcement and securities regulators, federal prosecutors, and in-house compliance officers and bank counsel.
We have extensive experience in internal investigations, enforcement actions, and investigations and regulatory examinations by the Department of Justice, state prosecutors, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve Board, the New York State Department of Financial Services, and all other federal and state bank and nonbank financial regulatory authorities.
Our deep experience in all aspects of BSA/AML sanctions enforcement and compliance, includes:
- Developing prospective measures such as AML and sanctions-compliance programs
- Identifying, evaluating. and remediating AML and sanctions-compliance challenges
- Conducting internal investigations to identify the causes of challenges and lookback reviews to identify appropriate scale
- Leading government disclosures and interactions, including enforcement-action defense and settlement negotiations
- Assisting clients in complying with requirements typically contained in enforcement actions and settlements
In addition to AML and sanctions compliance and enforcement services, we provide transaction-related due diligence and risk counseling for mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, and credit transactions. The team also provides BSA/AML training for boards of directors, executive management, and professional staff.
Noteworthy work by our team includes:
- Representing numerous large, international banks in multiagency regulatory and criminal investigations into compliance with sanctions laws, resulting in deferred prosecution agreements, civil money penalties, cease and desist orders, and independent monitorships; and assisting many of those same institutions in complying with a multitude of sanctions requirements imposed by multiagency settlements
- Representing global financial institutions in front of the DOJ, state attorneys general, and federal and state banking regulators in significant BSA/AML investigations, where multi-agency enforcement actions and criminal liability are at stake
- Assisting the U.S. branch of a foreign global systemically important bank with compliance and reporting requirements of an OCC cease and desist order
- Responding to and resolving numerous OFAC subpoenas initiating civil investigations of compliance with sanctions laws, resulting in cautionary letters or no action being taken by OFAC
- Representing independent board committees of financial institutions charged with investigating deficiencies in their BSA/AML programs
- Developing AML and sanctions compliance programs for a wide range of financial and non-financial institutions, from GSIBs to small community banks, MSBs, virtual currency businesses, residential mortgage lenders, and U.S. exporters
- Representing clients in front of OFAC, including identifying and investigating numerous apparent violations of sanctions laws and drafting voluntary disclosures to OFAC; obtaining OFAC licenses on behalf of our clients; and evaluating the application of U.S. sanctions laws to numerous foreign businesses, individuals, and financial institutions
- Evaluating numerous business arrangements, including prepaid card arrangements and issuance of virtual tokens, to identify MSB registration requirements
- Representing witnesses before numerous congressional committees, including the U.S. Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs’ Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, and the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Articles
"Reaching overseas: U.S. AML reform expands foreign bank subpoena power" by Daniel R. Alonso and Benjamin W. Hutten (American Bar Association Section of International Law Newsletter)
In one of its first acts of 2021, the United States Congress enacted the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (AMLA), which significantly expands the U.S. government’s ability to subpoena records of foreign banks held outside the United States. Before the enactment of AMLA, the USA PATRIOT Act...
Articles"Compliance lessons in recent Office of Foreign Assets Control enforcement" by Benjamin W. Hutten (Journal of Financial Compliance)
In May 2019, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which administers US sanctions laws, issued a broad framework identifying what OFAC views as the essential elements of risk-based sanctions compliance. At the same time, OFAC announced that it would consider...
Articles"Square peg meets round hole: Regulatory responses to challenges created by innovation in banking" by Jonice Gray Tucker, Kari K. Hall, Brendan Clegg, and Anthony Carral (The Business Lawyer)
During the past decade, an underlying tension between the financial sector’s embrace of innovative products and services and the regulatory framework that governs the industry surfaced—and that tension has since become even more acute during the COVID-19 pandemic. Facing pressure from customers’...
ArticlesSpecial Alert: FinCEN extends AML program, other requirements to banks without federal regulators
On September 14, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a final rule to align Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) requirements applicable to most banks with the requirements applicable to banks lacking a “federal functional regulator.” In particular, the final rule will require all non-...
Special AlertsSpecial Alert: FinCEN outlines approach to BSA enforcement
On August 18, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which has overall responsibility for administering the Bank Secrecy Act, issued a short statement that, for the first time, publicly outlined its approach to BSA enforcement. Of note, FinCEN indicated that it will not base enforcement actions...
Special AlertsSpecial Alert: OFAC encourages humanitarian aid, promises consideration for Covid-19 compliance challenges
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control recently took two actions to address the impact of Covid-19. First, OFAC issued a fact sheet that consolidates existing authorizations and guidance permitting humanitarian, agricultural, and medical aid to six jurisdictions subject...
Special Alerts"Paycheck Protection Program poses AML compliance challenges" by Benjamin W. Hutten (Bloomberg Law)
Promised relief started flowing to small businesses recently under the $350 billion Paycheck Protection Program established by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, but many lenders releasing funds now face a substantial compliance burden: establishing an anti-money-laundering...
Articles"The hazy legal landscape of cannabis: A review" by Fredrick S. Levin and Benjamin W. Hutten (Los Angeles Daily Journal)
The legality of cannabis varies widely on what product is at issue and what law applies. There is significant divergence, and at times direct conflict, between state and federal laws. Under federal law, a slight difference in chemical composition or the marketed use of a product can determine...
ArticlesSpecial Alert: Banks no longer required to file SARs for hemp-related businesses
Federal and state banking regulators confirmed in a December 3 joint statement that banks are no longer required to file a suspicious activity report on customers solely because they are “engaged in the growth or cultivation of hemp in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.” * * * Click...
Special Alerts"Banks need to prep for OFAC Cuban ‘U-Turn’ exception limits" by Benjamin W. Hutten (Bloomberg Law)
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control recently announced changes to its Cuba sanctions intended to further financially isolate the Cuban government. Most importantly, OFAC will effectively rescind the “U-Turn,” an exception to the Cuban embargo that allowed U.S. banks to...
Articles"Guide to monitorships is essential because of lack of statutes, court precedent" co-authored by Daniel R. Alonso (Law.com)
With some regularity over the past 25 years, government actions against corporate actors have resulted in the imposition of independent monitors. “Monitor” can have multiple meanings, but is usually understood to be an independent third party appointed to ensure compliance with regulatory or court-...
ArticlesSpecial Alert: OFAC formalizes expectations for sanctions compliance programs
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control last week issued a framework for OFAC Compliance Commitments , which, for the first time, outlines OFAC’s views on essential elements of a risk-based sanctions compliance program in a single document that can serve as a roadmap...
Special Alerts"Improving your odds on the gambling frontier" by Andrew R. Louis, Kathryn L. Ryan, and Tim Lange (SportsBusiness Journal)
The Supreme Court has laid the groundwork for sports betting in any state that wants it, but those predicting an imminent land grab by betting houses may not fully appreciate the deliberate and occasionally painstaking process that most states will likely implement. Careful planning now to...
Articles"Can you comment when SARs come up?" by Preston Burton (Banking Exchange)
Recent news related to the investigation of Russian influence in the U.S. political process has drawn the public’s attention to the Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) system and raised questions about its integrity. Financial institutions, among others, are required to file SARs with the Treasury...
Articles"BSA/AML Compliance and Enforcement" By Brendan Clegg and Benjamin W. Hutten (ABA Bank Compliance)
After nine months in office, it seems unlikely that the administration’s efforts to change the existing financial industry regulatory regime will affect enforcement of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and its implementing regulations. To the contrary—it appears that law enforcement and national security...
ArticlesBenjamin W. Hutten Authored The Review of Banking & Financial Services Article, "FinCEN's Customer Due Diligence and Beneficial Ownership Rule"
On May 11, 2016, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) published a long-awaited final rule, Customer Due Diligence Requirements for Financial Institutions (the “Final Rule”). The Final Rule, which impacts anti-money laundering (“AML”)-related obligations...
ArticlesBrendan Clegg Authored Banking Exchange Article, "Don’t Get Burned by Coming CDD Rule"
FinCEN’s issuance of the final customer due diligence (CDD) rule in May 2016 significantly altered the Bank Secrecy Act / Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) compliance landscape.1 Insured depository institutions, among other covered financial entities, must comply with the rule by May 11, 2018. The...
Articles"FinTech: The emerging financial crime compliance minefield" co-authored by Daniel R. Alonso (Business Crimes Bulletin)
More than ever, the intersection of technology and financial crime compliance (FCC) for financial institutions is dynamic terrain. At the same time, technology continues to improve, and sometimes disrupt the way in which consumers and businesses participate in the financial services industry. The...
Articles"Do not bet against it: Heightened scrutiny of casinos is here to stay" by Daniel R. Alonso (ACAMS Today)
What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” may still apply to bachelor parties, but it is no longer true for gaming. Just as the days of the discreet private banker have gone the way of the fax machine, so, too, has the halcyon era of anonymous gaming in land-based casinos. Recent events have made it...
ArticlesSpecial Alert: Lessons Learned from Arab Bank's U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act Verdict
On September 22, 2014, following a two-month trial, a federal jury in the Eastern District of New York ruled in favor of a group of 297 individual plaintiffs in a civil suit accusing Arab Bank PLC, headquartered in Amman, Jordan, of supporting terrorism. Linde vs. Arab Bank PLC , No. 1:04-CV-2799 (...
Articles
News & Blogs
OFAC sanctions Russians engaged in Ukrainian destabilization activities
On January 20, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced sanctions pursuant to Executive Order 14024 against four individuals engaged in Russian government-directed influence activities to destabilize Ukraine. OFAC stated that it will continue to take actions,...
InfoBytesOFAC sanctions Hizballah financiers in Lebanon
On January 18, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions pursuant to Executive Order 13224 against three Hizballah-linked financial facilitators and their Lebanon-based travel company. According to OFAC, “Hizballah’s widespread network of financial...
InfoBytesFinCEN explores possibility of creating regulatory sandboxes
On January 13, the acting Director of FinCEN Him Das spoke at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Conference to discuss the transformation of the anti-money laundering/counter-terrorist financing regulatory regime as it relates to new threats, new innovations, and new partnerships. Das highlighted...
InfoBytesOFAC sanctions North Koreans
On January 12, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced sanctions pursuant to Executive Order 13382 against five Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) individuals based in Russia and China that OFAC designated as “responsible for procuring goods for the DPRK’...
InfoBytesOFAC reaches $5.2 million settlement with Hong Kong company for apparent Iranian sanctions violations
On January 11, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced a $5.2 million settlement with a Hong Kong, China-based company for allegedly processing certain transactions related to goods of Iranian origin through U.S. financial institutions in violation of the Iranian...
InfoBytesFinCEN requests comments on renewal of the OMB control number
On January 11, FinCEN issued a notice in the Federal Register soliciting comments on the renewal of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number assigned to the regulation requiring reports of transactions with foreign financial agencies (FFAs). According to the notice, the regulation...
InfoBytesOFAC sanctions Nicaraguan officials connected to Ortega-Murillo regime
On January 10, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced sanctions pursuant to Executive Order 13851 against six Nicaraguan government officials. The sanctions, taken in conjunction with EU sanctions adopted the same date, relate to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega...
InfoBytesOFAC published FAQs on Belarus, Ukraine-/Russia-related, and Venezuela-related sanctions programs
On January 7, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control published a new FAQ 956 regarding Belarus, Ukraine-/Russia-related, and Venezuela-related sanctions programs, which prohibit U.S. persons from dealing in certain new debts (such as bonds, loans, drafts, loan guarantees,...
InfoBytesOFAC issues additional Afghanistan general licenses and guidance to support humanitarian assistance
On December 22, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued three general licenses (GLs) to expand existing authorizations and further support humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan. The GLs authorize transactions and activities involving the Taliban or the Haqqani...
InfoBytesOFAC issues amended Weapons of Mass Destruction Trade Control Regulations
On December 23, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced amendments to the Weapons of Mass Destruction Trade Control Regulations . The amendments, among other things: (i) add Executive Order 13382, “Blocking Property of Weapons of Mass Destruction...
InfoBytes
Press Releases & Announcements
Daniel P. Stipano Receives Leadership Award From Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists
The Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) awarded Buckley Sandler partner Daniel P. Stipano the 2017 AML/CTF Leadership in Government award at the ACAMS MoneyLaundering.com 22nd Annual International AML & Financial Crime Conference on April 4, 2017, in Hollywood...
AnnouncementsFormer Director of Enforcement and Compliance for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Joins Buckley Sandler
WASHINGTON, DC (March 13, 2017) – Buckley Sandler LLP announced today that Ellen M. Warwick , former Director for Enforcement and Compliance for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), has joined the firm as a Senior Counsel. Resident in the firm’s Washington, DC office, Warwick will...
Press ReleasesFormer Deputy Chief Counsel for Office of the Comptroller Joins BuckleySandler
WASHINGTON, DC (January 3, 2017) – BuckleySandler LLP, a premier financial services, government enforcement and litigation law firm, announced today that former Deputy Chief Counsel for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Daniel P. Stipano has joined the firm as a Partner in its...
Press ReleasesBuckley Sandler Establishes International Presence With Opening of London Office
WASHINGTON, DC / LONDON, ENGLAND (September 8, 2014) – Buckley Sandler LLP , a leading financial services and criminal & civil enforcement defense law firm, announced today the opening of its first international office, located in London. James T. Parkinson has relocated from the firm’s...
Press Releases
Our Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering & Sanctions Team
Partners
FYI
"Reaching overseas: U.S. AML reform expands foreign bank subpoena power" by Daniel R. Alonso and Benjamin W. Hutten (American Bar Association Section of International Law Newsletter)
"Compliance lessons in recent Office of Foreign Assets Control enforcement" by Benjamin W. Hutten (Journal of Financial Compliance)
"Square peg meets round hole: Regulatory responses to challenges created by innovation in banking" by Jonice Gray Tucker, Kari K. Hall, Brendan Clegg, and Anthony Carral (The Business Lawyer)
Recent Blog Posts
-
January 21, 2022
OFAC sanctions Russians engaged in Ukrainian destabilization activities
-
January 20, 2022
OFAC sanctions Hizballah financiers in Lebanon
-
January 19, 2022
FinCEN explores possibility of creating regulatory sandboxes
-
January 14, 2022
OFAC sanctions North Koreans
-
January 14, 2022
OFAC reaches $5.2 million settlement with Hong Kong company for apparent Iranian sanctions violations