Jun ’20 – Aug ’20

AT_v19_n3

Issue: Vol. 19 No. 3

Featured

Three Cheers for 10 Years!

Financial crime compliance professionals know that law enforcement (LE) plays a vital role in investigating and capturing financial criminals. Ten years ago, ACAMS Today  set out to honor LE in a special way—by…

Your SARs Matter

A lingering myth persists that suspicious activity reports (SARs) are not being properly read or reviewed by law enforcement (LE) and regulators. This is simply not true. This article will go through the complex journey of…


From the Director of Editorial Content

Be Purposeful, Be Well

Law enforcement (LE) professionals deal with some of the most brutal manifestations of evil human behavior. It…

From the Editor

Chaos Leads to Change

A decade ago, ACAMS Today  published its first Law Enforcement (LE) edition. It has since become an annual edition…


Inside this Edition

In Search of a Fellow Fraudster

Silver and single, Karen*1 is in search of (ISO) a meaningful relationship. Unconventional herself, she opts to post her ISO on a popular dating website for a mature crowd. Soon, she receives…


Terrorist Threats Within Domestic Boundaries

Terrorism is a number of things: It is deadly, costly, constant, evolving, local, regional, global and unrelenting. Finally, terrorism is real. Yet terrorism faces two major vulnerabilities: finance and…


Thinking Outside of Silos

Search and arrest warrants had been obtained for Gerry (not his real name of course). Gerry—who was accused of operating an unlicensed money services business—had few redeeming…


The Beef With Cattle Fraud

Everyone knows fraud and money laundering are two sides of the same coin. Fraudsters do what they do for one reason only—the money. Thus, fraud inherently leads to money laundering as…


TBML: Trade is the Red Herring

For the last 10 years or so, trade-based money laundering (TBML) has arguably been the most uttered term at money laundering conferences worldwide. Almost like an Abbott and Costello…


Friendly Fire: Undermining Compliance From Within

Friendly fire is a military term that refers to the mistaken or negligent use of force against one’s own personnel or materiel. Over the years, it has colloquially expanded to represent any…


DNFBPs: A Challenge for India’s AML Preparedness

While India is one of the world’s fastest growing economies, it also faces varied money laundering and terrorist financing risks. In the 2019 Basel Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Index, India…


Coaches and Mentors

I used to cringe at the term “executive coach.” It conjured up images of retired corporate types, former athletes, academics and consultants who claim to help executives improve their…


From Badge to Banker

When police officers start their careers at academies, they are told they are different from day one. As they begin serving their communities, they realize the role makes them stand out and do…


Your SARs Matter

A lingering myth persists that suspicious activity reports (SARs) are not being properly read or reviewed by law enforcement (LE) and regulators. This is simply not true. This article will go…


Fight Finished—For Some, Yes, For Others, Hardly

In 2019, the Washington Nationals won the World Series in an amazing fashion. They played one game at a time and continued their fight even when their backs were against the wall. Once…


Bahamas AML Global Research Conference: Weighing AML Costs vs. Benefits

On January 22 and 23, 2020, the Central Bank of the Bahamas hosted an inaugural global research conference focusing on empirical approaches to anti-money laundering (AML) and…


Improving Panama’s AML Framework

As of June 2019, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) placed Panama on its list of high-risk jurisdictions with strategic anti-money laundering (AML) deficiencies (what is commonly…


Joseph Mari, CAMS: Providing the Tools to Combat Human Trafficking

Since 2009, Barbara A. Martinez has served as the chief of the Special Prosecutions Section at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami. She supervises federal prosecutors who handle cases…


Three Cheers for 10 Years!

Financial crime compliance professionals know that law enforcement (LE) plays a vital role in investigating and capturing financial criminals. Ten years ago, ACAMS Today  set out to…


John Byrne, CAMS: Let’s Stay Together

ACAMS Today  asked John Byrne, CAMS to discuss 10 years of the ACAMS Today  Law Enforcement (LE) edition, successful public-private partnerships, and more. Byrne is vice chairman…


Best Practices for SAR Success

On March 12, 2020, Brett Brumbaugh and Robyn Wilson hosted an ACAMS Virginia Chapter event in Roanoke titled SAR Review Teams’ Best Practices for Success. The speaker was Trevor…


Lisyandri Perez: Delivering Engaging and Interactive Emails

ACAMS Today  interviewed Lisyandri Perez, senior email marketing specialist, to discuss his ACAMS career evolution and the future of ACAMS emails. Perez has over eight years of web…


Cheryl Alexander, CAMS—Vancouver, Canada

Cheryl Alexander, CAMS, is the manager, anti-money laundering (AML) and privacy compliance, at Peoples Trust Company. She acts as one of the organization’s primary contacts for AML…


Suelan De Sormeaux, CAMS—Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

Suelan De Sormeaux’s career in the financial sector spans 14 years, 12 of which have been in the anti-money laundering (AML) compliance field. De Sormeaux is the manager, AML and…


Todd Porter, CAMS—Washington, D.C., USA

Todd Porter, CAMS is a supervisory special agent at the FBI with over 20 years of national security and law enforcement experience in threat finance and transnational organized crime…


The Building Blocks of an Effective Public-Private Partnership

For the past several years, conversations on anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) have been at the forefront for public and private (P/P) sector leaders…


Your AMLRx for COVID-19

Over the recent months, the world has been consumed by a five-letter, two-number phrase: COVID-19. As a result, many in the anti-financial crime (AFC) field have gone into crisis response…


Four Sanctions Strategies for the New Decade

The world of U.S. economic and trade sanctions has never been more volatile and uncertain than it was in the 2010s. From the “new” sectoral sanctions that targeted globally connected..


Summer Updates from the ACAMS EMEA Team

As we write this whilst working from home, like so many of you in the global ACAMS community, we look forward with hope to a gradual emergence into the next phase of our socially distanced…


The Future of Investigations

In movies, investigators put the pieces together. With a massive wall of mugshots, maps and post-it notes, they connect the dots using years of honed intuition—and red yarn. It is an analytical…