Digital assets subject to money-laundering, disclosure laws: U.S. regulators

Three U.S. financial regulators on Friday issued a warning to firms with registered digital assets that they have an obligation to follow securities laws prohibiting money laundering and requiring disclosure of suspicious activity.

The notice, from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, seeks to clarify firms’ obligations under antimoney laundering, bank secrecy and counter terrorist-financing laws when using digital assets such as cryptocurrencies. read more »

SEC Halts Alleged $1.7 Billion Unregistered Digital Token Offering

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it has filed an emergency action and obtained temporary restraining order against two offshore entities conducting an alleged unregistered, ongoing digital token offering in the U.S. and overseas that has raised more than $1.7 billion of investor funds. read more »

Miami-Based Financial Advisor Pleads Guilty for Conspiring to Launder Money Relating To FCPA and Ecuadorian Bribery Law Violations

A financial advisor based in Miami, Florida, pleaded guilty today to a money laundering conspiracy for his role in using the U.S. financial system to launder money to promote violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and Ecuadorian bribery law violations and to conceal and disguise the true nature of those illegal bribe payments.  Specifically, this conspiracy related to a scheme to pay bribes to officials of Ecuador’s state-owned and state-controlled oil company, Empresa Pública de Hidrocarburos del Ecuador (PetroEcuador). read more »

Citi pays $30 million fine to settle real-estate violations

Citibank has agreed to pay a $30 million fine to settle charges of repeated violations of real estate holding rules and for failing to meet its commitment to take corrective actions, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said on Friday. read more »

Boeing board strips CEO of chairman title amid 737 MAX crisis

Boeing Co’s board has stripped chief executive Dennis Muilenburg of his chairmanship title, in an unexpected strategy shift announced by the U.S. planemaker on Friday only hours after a global aviation panel criticized development of the troubled 737 MAX.

The decision came as Boeing struggles to get its best-selling 737 MAX back into service following a worldwide safety ban in March triggered by two crashes that killed a total of 346 people in Ethiopia and Indonesia. read more »