The ACAMS Connection is a bi-weekly e-newsletter exclusive to ACAMS members. It provides members with a snapshot of anti-money laundering (AML) current events, the latest trends in financial crime and updates on what is new to the ACAMS community. The ACAMS Connection is the trusted source by ACAMS members for staying on top of industry best practices.
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As techniques, typologies, schemes and conduits used for money laundering and terrorist financing become more complex, sophisticated and less transparent, the ability to prove an individual(s) is criminally culpable will continue to be a challenge faced by attorneys, law enforcement and criminal investigators throughout the...
Myths continue to girdle virtual (crypto) currencies, including that they are anonymous and exclusively used by criminals to purchase items on the darknet or to launder money. Bitcoin is most commonly associated with these myths, despite the fact that it is not anonymous, but rather...
Organ trafficking, a lucrative global illicit trade, is often a lesser discussed form of human trafficking among anti-human trafficking stakeholders due to its intricate and often stealth nature. Trafficking sex and/or labor are the more commonly thought of forms of human trafficking among public policy...
Have you ever thought about your legacy? Have you ever consciously ruminated and decided on how you want people to think of you? I am not alluding to everyone’s subconscious desire to be liked; I am touching on something greater and more significant. Although we...
Demonstrating data completeness and integrity (DC&I) for mission-critical applications is a necessary step for financial services institutions working to address the anti-money laundering (AML) model validation guidelines issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)—"Supervisory Guidance On Model Risk Management" and the...
I started my career as an agency recruiter in July 2008. I thought everything was going fine until two months later when Lehman Brothers went bankrupt and the U.S. officially joined the Great Recession.1 Honestly, I did not know what a recession was, but I...
Anti-money laundering (AML) professionals should ponder the many places where money laundering appears in television and movies. Real-world case studies based on indictments and press releases can seem dry, but watching and analyzing visual media has entertainment and perhaps even professional development value. It also...
The capacity to send and receive international payments through correspondent banking is critical to the global economy as financial institutions rely on these relationships to move their customers’ money. As a result of increased regulatory requirements and risk related to shell companies, correspondent banking relationship...
Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and Initial Token Offerings (ITOs) are recent innovations for companies to raise capital outside of traditional securities markets and funding sources (e.g., venture capital and angel investors). These “alt-offerings” also represent an avenue for innovation in financial crime and, in turn...
The first known use of sanctions dates to 432 BC when General Pericles of Greece imposed sanctions on its neighbor, Megara, in response to the abduction of three women. In more recent times, the first U.S. sanctions date back to Thomas Jefferson’s Embargo Act of...
