Program > Money Laundering & Compliance Track
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Money Laundering & Compliance Track

Let's be frank, the high volume of crude financial scandals shows that many financial institutions don't take compliance seriously or willfully ignore crime, apparently believing the financial rewards of laundering the proceeds of crime outweigh the risks.

 

With whistleblowers from Allen Stanford, Wachovia Bank, and Julius Baer as speakers and a session entitled ' Still Getting Away With It: The New Generation of Government Kleptocrats & How Banks are Helping Them', we hope to scare you straight.

 

 

Sessions Include:

America's Home-Bred Offshore Financial Centers – Delaware, Nevada & Wyoming

How three US jurisdictions – offering minimal formation requirements, limited oversight, and allowing nominee directors and shareholders – are being used to launder the proceeds of tax evasion and other financial crimes, both domestically and on a global basis, and what the US is and is not doing to combat it.

 

  • How can the US justify the rampant criminal activity occurring in these jurisdictions given its 'moral crusade' against OFCs?
  • How could the Nevada Secretary of State get away with a boast that used to appear on its web-site that the state has "No IRS Information Sharing Agreement"?
  • In US Vice President Joe Biden's home state of Delaware, an address that is operated by American Incorporators Limited appears time and again in requests for judicial assistance by eastern European countries regarding criminal tax evasion investigations?
  • Surely American Incorporators' office at Suite 606, 1220 North Market Street, Wilmington is a worthier candidate for the moniker of 'the world's biggest building or the world's biggest tax dodge' than, as US Senator Carl Levin and US President Barack Obama have publicly proclaimed, Ugland House in the Cayman Islands?
  • What pressure, if any, can countries like Russia, Poland, the Ukraine and Belarus exert on the USA to clamp down on Delaware?
  • Jack Blum, Tax Justice Network (Washington, DC)
  • Fred Abrams, The Law Office of Fred L. Abrams (New York)

Still Getting Away With It: The New Generation of Government Kleptocrats and How Banks are Helping Them

Despite the lessons of Abacha, Mobutu and Marcos, banks are still doing business with corrupt regimes.

 

  • What are the loopholes at the heart of the financial system that allow this sort of dirty money to flow?
  • What is wrong with the current approach to customer due diligence?

 

Drawing on detailed case studies this session will propose some practical solutions for both compliance officers and political policy makers.

Robert Palmer, Global Witness (UK)

Serious Financial Crime: Current Trends in the Bermuda-Caribbean Region & Steps Being Taken to Combat It

Focusing on Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, and the British Virgin Islands.

 

  • Which jurisdictions are taking seriously their commitment to clamping down on financial crime and which are paying it mere lip service?
  • Are these jurisdictions enforcing new anti-financial crime laws they have passed or are they simply window-dressing?
  • Are they passing on information to regulators and law enforcement in onshore countries?
  • What new ways are financial criminals using to exploit these jurisdictions and what is being done to detect the activity and punish those responsible?
  • Owen Henry, Cayman National Corporation (Cayman Islands)
  • Rodney Gallagher, Gaffney, Gallagher & Philip (Barbados)
  • Martin Livingston, Maples and Calder (Cayman Islands)
  • Sharda Sinanan-Bollers, International Financial Services Authority (St. Vincent & the Grenadines)

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act 2009: How it Will Impact Offshore Financial Institutions, Trusts & Corporations

In an attempt to prevent tax evasion estimated at $8.5 billion annually, this proposed new legislation would provide the U.S. Treasury Department with significant new tools to find and prosecute U.S. individuals who hide assets overseas from the IRS. The new law would force foreign financial institutions, foreign trusts, and foreign corporations to provide information about their U.S. account holders, grantors, and owners.

 

This session will also deal with the question: When does Tax Avoidance become Tax Evasion?

Whistleblowing Damaged Our Careers: The Incredible Stories of Employees Who Blew The Whistle on Allen Stanford and Wachovia Bank

Charles Rawl is a former Financial Advisor for Allen Stanford's Stanford Financial Group who blew the whistle on the group's activities that ultimately contributed to its collapse and the criminal prosecution of Allen Stanford for allegedly masterminding a $8 billion fraud.

 

Martin Woods is a former Money Laundering Reporting Officer for Wachovia Securities International, the UK broker-dealer subsidiary of Wachovia Bank. In a whistleblower suit filed with an Employment Tribunal, Martin Woods claims that Wachovia destroyed his career after he contacted Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency to report evidence of multi-billion dollar money laundering by the bank's clients.

  • Charles Rawl, Zenith Wealth Management (Houston)
  • Martin Woods, Hermes Forensic Solutions (UK)
  • Jack Blum, Whistleblower Attorney (Washington, DC)

Lambs to the Slaughter: How Stock Promoters and Professional Facilitators Conspire to Defraud Unwary Investors

Securities fraud is one of the most widespread and destructive forms of financial crime, collectively costing investors billions of dollars each year. Our panelists will look at how stocks are manipulated, including the roles played by market-makers, brokers, promoters, and newsletter writers; the use of offshore shell companies to conceal illegal trading, and how to identify red-flags.

David Baines, Vancouver Sun (Canada)

Burke Files, Financial Examinations & Evaluations (Arizona)

Stuart Allen, Former Special Investigator, U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission

Data Protection vs. Access to Information

In many jurisdictions, personal information constitutes a "regulated substance".

 

  • What issues does data privacy raise in multi-jurisdictional discovery efforts?
  • What are your obligations if a client wants to do business with other financial services providers?
  • What are the legal, regulatory, operational and reputational ramifications if your controls fail?
  • Nancy Saur, ATC Trustees (Cayman Islands)
  • Steve Lauer, Lumen Legal Consulting Services (North Carolina)
  • Liz Harding, Harding Legal (Colorado)