Edited by Massimo Ferracci

The new U.S. anti-money laundering legislation and its interactions with European regulations will be the focus of an in-depth remote seminar scheduled for Tuesday, April 13, from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM. The seminar will be led by Professor Massimo Ferracci, a university lecturer in Advanced Corporate Finance and an independent Corporate Financial Adviser, and will feature Dimitri Barberini, an AML/CFT analyst for foreign financial systems. On January 1, 2021, the U.S. Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), an omnibus statute that addresses a range of defense and national security issues, including the most substantial and far-reaching legislative reforms to U.S. anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CFT) laws, radically amending the Patriot Act of 2001. The new NDAA introduces these AML/CFT amendments and enhancements in the form of a federal anti-money laundering law called the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA), which carries significant criminal penalties.
Numerous requirements are being introduced that will have a profound impact not only on financial institutions (which have traditionally borne the burden of AML/CFT compliance) but also on numerous industries (other than financial institutions), which will have stringent requirements. The inclusion of corporate transparency provisions within the AMLA is particularly noteworthy, largely to combat illicit finance, resulting in a two-decade reshaping of the global response to financial crime.

Back in December 2020, FinCen issued new rules requiring cryptocurrency exchanges to file reports for any transactions valued at more than $10.000.

The AMLA expands the authority of the Treasury and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to subpoena non-U.S. banks that maintain correspondent accounts in the United States, and to request records from foreign banks that are the subject of a violation of U.S. criminal law, the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), a civil forfeiture action, or a U.S. money laundering investigation.

The AMLA also creates two new offenses, the first of which refers to false reporting to financial institutions of material information regarding ownership or control of assets involved in a monetary transaction if they are connected to foreign political figures or if the total value exceeds $1 million.

The second involves the concealment, falsification, or misrepresentation of material information regarding the source of funds in a monetary transaction involving an entity deemed to pose a “major money laundering problem.”

The creation of the new crimes, which take effect immediately, authorizes law enforcement to prosecute lawyers, accountants, bankers, and real estate agents who provide false information to the U.S. financial system.

In addition to criminal offenses, the AMLA also includes increased penalties for BSA violators, allowing fines equal to the profit earned as a result of the violation. Additional fines of up to three times the profits earned or losses avoided are possible in the event of repeated anomalous behavior. Managers and employees of financial institutions will also be required to repay any bonuses earned during the year in which they committed a BSA violation, and will also be disqualified from holding office for ten years.

This is a very strict and effective legislation that will have immediate repercussions on global financial relations and will require the European financial sector to adapt given the interaction and integration of economic and financial processes with the United States of America.

These topics will be extensively covered in the seminar, according to the program that will be sent to interested parties.

For information on how to register for the seminar click here.