On Aug. 25, 2015, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued for public comment a proposed rule (the “Proposed Rule”) requiring investment advisers registered with the SEC (“RIAs”) to establish anti-money laundering (“AML”) programs and report suspicious activity to FinCEN pursuant to the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”). The long-anticipated Proposed Rule arrives nearly seven years after FinCEN withdrew earlier proposed AML rules, published in 2002 and 2003, directed at investment advisers, unregistered investment companies and…

On Dec. 18, 2014, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued a first-of-its-kind $1-million assessment against the former chief compliance officer and senior vice president of government affairs at MoneyGram International Inc. Separately, on Dec. 22, 2014, Bank Leumi USA and Bank Leumi Le-Israel, B.M. entered into a consent order with the New York State Department of Financial Services, under which the Bank admitted engaging in an illegal cross-border scheme to assist U.S. clients in evading…

On Dec. 18, 2014, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued a first-of-its-kind $1-million assessment against the former chief compliance officer and senior vice president of government affairs at MoneyGram International Inc. FinCEN determined that the CCO “willfully violated” the requirements to: (1) “implement and maintain an effective anti-money laundering program;” and (2) “report suspicious activity.” On the same day, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York filed a civil complaint…

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on May 20, 2015 announced a settlement with global resources company BHP Billiton over allegations that BHP Billiton violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) by providing luxury travel packages to foreign government officials and their spouses at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The settlement, imposed through a Cease-and-Desist Order (“Order”), underscores the importance of adequate safeguards and internal controls when providing hospitality to foreign government officials. Click…

Last week saw two significant developments for insider trading law stemming from the Second Circuit’s important decision in U.S. v. Newman, 773 F.3d 438 (2d Cir. 2014). First, the government was dealt a significant loss when, on Jan. 22, 2015, U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr. vacated four insider trading defendants’ guilty pleas in the wake of Newman and rejected the government’s argument that the Newman decision does not apply to cases prosecuted under the so-called “misappropriation” theory of…

In its highly anticipated decision in U.S. v. Newman, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held on Dec. 10 that to sustain insider trading charges against a tippee who trades on material nonpublic information, the government must prove that the tippee knew that the tipper disclosed the information in breach of a duty of trust and confidence in order to receive a personal benefit. The court further explained that the benefit must be…