Category Archives: Money laundering

Corruption, Money laundering

Italian money laundering reports jump to all-time high in 2014

ROME, July 13 (Reuters) – Reports of suspicious bank transactions in Italy jumped 10 percent to a record high last year as the pervasive problems of organized crime, corruption and tax evasion were exacerbated by a three-year economic slump, the central bank said on Monday.

The financial downturn had given cash-rich mafia groups the opportunity to tighten their grip on the economy as, with banks reducing lending, the criminal networks boosted their investments in the real economy, investigators have said.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20150713_Reuters_L5N0ZT24E_Italian_money_laundering_reports_jump_to_all_time_high_in_2014.html#pgiSjad0KO5gFx4o.99

Corruption, Drugs, Money laundering

Corruption Currents: London Emerges as Drug-Money Hub

Bribery:

FIFA President Sepp Blatter accused France and Germany of trying to influence World Cup hosting votes. Germany dismissed the claim; France didn’t immediately comment. The man who inspected the bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups was banned for seven years. (Reuters, AP, Reuters, World Soccer, Reuters)

CONCACAF announced a framework for reform in the wake of the FIFA corruptionscandal. CONMEBOL is in crisis and needs total change. (NY Times, MLSSoccer, ESPNFC, Bloomberg, AP)

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Fraud, Money laundering

Former PSU professor draws prison term

WICHITA, Kan. — A judge sentenced a former Pittsburg State University professor to 18 months in a federal prison Monday on convictions for wire fraud and money laundering related to his management of a graduate student exchange program.

U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren assessed Michael Muoghalu the prison term at a sentencing hearing in federal court in Wichita and ordered him to pay the university $148,430 in restitution.

 Muoghalu, 61, pleaded guilty to the offenses March 2 in a plea agreement with the U.S. attorney’s office in Wichita.

The former director of the business administration program at PSU managed a graduate student exchange program at the university that recruited Nigerian students interested in obtaining a master’s degree in business administration.

According to a federal grand jury indictment handed up in December of last year, Muoghalu and an unnamed associate in Nigeria defrauded the university between August 2006 and January 2014 by creating fictitious documents representing that certain Nigerian students had completed undergraduate work and were eligible for the program.

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Money laundering

MAJOR US BANKS CLOSING BORDER BRANCHES TO FIGHT MONEY LAUNDERING

As more money continues to flow into the pockets of Mexican drug cartels, traffickers need to maintain a solid network of places—often along the southwest border—where they can launder drug money. However, in an attempt to stymie these efforts, several major US banks have been closing numerous branches in the region and shutting down hundreds of customer accounts.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the Arizona border town of Nogales, population 21,000, is feeling the financial pinch most strongly. In the past several months, J.P. Morgan, Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc.-owned Banamex USA have shut a total of four branches in Nogales, almost halving the number in town owned by big US banks, per the Journal. Separately, hundreds of Chase and Wells Fargo & Co. customers, some of them second- and third-generation business owners, have had their bank accounts closed.

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Conspiracy, Money laundering, Obstruction of Justice

Jury Convicts Houston Lawyer on 18 Criminal Charges

A jury found Houston criminal defense attorney Abraham Moses Fisch guilty on May 27 of 18 criminal charges in connection with an alleged conspiracy to defraud defendants who were facing federal criminal charges in Houston.

A jury in U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal’s court in the Southern District of Texas found Fisch guilty of one charge of conspiracy, four counts of obstruction of justice, seven counts of money laundering, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and five counts of failure to file tax returns. He was found not guilty of one count of corrupt endeavor to impede the due administration of the Internal Revenue Code.

Read more: http://www.texaslawyer.com/id=1202727838129/Jury-Convicts-Houston-Lawyer-on-18-Criminal-Charges#ixzz3bdKZR2ev

Corruption, Money laundering

FIFA Corruption Charges Leave Soccer Fans Stunned

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The corruption charges against FIFA officials leave those who follow soccer closely stunned on Wednesday morning.

Soccer fans have long expressed their concerns with how FIFA operates. But actual arrests and charges, CBS 3 soccer expert Kevin Kinkead says, are surprising.

“This is unprecedented,” says Kinkead. “I can’t make any kind of comparison to American sports.”

FIFA controls everything soccer, Kinkead says, and it has never been challenged by a government like this.

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Corruption, Money laundering

Money laundering: Former Petrobras executive jailed

SAO PAULO, May 27 — A Brazilian judge sentenced a former international director at state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA to five years in prison for money laundering yesterday, the second company executive convicted in an ongoing corruption probe.

Federal Judge Sergio Moro said there was ample evidence that the former director, Nestor Cervero, set up a front company to launder money. He also used illicit money to buy a luxury apartment in Rio de Janeiro, the judge said.

Cervero was fired from Petrobras, as the company is known, in 2014 and arrested in January as he stepped off a plane from Europe. He is also suspected of receiving bribes in exchange for awarding drilling ship contracts.

– See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/money/article/money-laundering-former-petrobras-executive-jailed-five-years#sthash.zERy7YyL.dpuf

Money laundering

New felony charge levied against former Utah attorney general

SALT LAKE CITY – Prosecutors filed a new felony charge against former Utah Attorney General John Swallow Wednesday, just over two weeks ahead of a hearing that will determine if his case will proceed to trial.

The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office filed a second-degree felony money-laundering charge against Swallow, while also dropping a misdemeanor charge of failing to disclose conflict of interest.

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Money laundering

Caesars Palace could face up to $20 million in fines in anti-money laundering investigation

LAS VEGAS –  Caesars Palace may pay a fine of $12 million to $20 million in a U.S. Treasury Department investigation into the casino’s anti-money laundering practices.

Caesars Entertainment Corp. said in a quarterly financial filing Monday that the federal investigation focused on its flagship Las Vegas Strip property.

The Bank Secrecy Act requires financial institutions and casinos to assist federal agencies in detecting and preventing money laundering.

Caesars says it was made aware of investigations by the department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and a grand jury in October 2013. Caesars says it’s cooperating.

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