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The Morning Risk Report: Corruption, Cybercrime Top List of U.S. Anti-Money-Laundering Concerns |
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| The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s headquarters in Vienna, Va. PHOTO: EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK |
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Good morning. The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday issued a set of national anti-money-laundering priorities, naming corruption and cybercrime among the areas where financial institutions should focus their compliance resources. The list is the first created by the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, following a major overhaul of U.S. anti-money-laundering laws in January. Legislation passed by Congress required FinCEN to develop a national strategy for countering money laundering and terrorism financing and to issue a list of priorities every four years. [Continued below...] |
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The list, which also named domestic and international terrorism among the priorities, is meant to help financial institutions that have anti-money-laundering obligations more effectively allocate resources and tailor their compliance programs to account for specific threats to the U.S. financial system and national security. FinCEN on Wednesday said it would issue regulations later clarifying how financial institutions should incorporate the priorities it had identified into their compliance programs. |
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| Allen Weisselberg, behind former President Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr. in 2017, is the longtime chief financial officer of the Trump Organization. PHOTO: EVAN VUCCI/ASSOCIATED PRESS |
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A New York grand jury has indicted the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer with tax-related crimes that will be made public Thursday in court, people familiar with the matter said, marking the first criminal charges against the former president’s company since prosecutors began investigating it three years ago. The charges against the company and longtime CFO Allen Weisselberg are a blow to former President Donald Trump, who has fended off multiple criminal and civil probes during and after his presidency. But the initial charges won’t implicate Mr. Trump himself, his lawyer said, falling short of expectations about the high-profile probe that included a battle over his tax returns decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in the prosecutors’ favor. |
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- Robinhood Financial LLC has agreed to pay nearly $70 million to resolve sweeping regulatory allegations that the brokerage misled customers, approved ineligible traders for risky strategies and didn’t supervise technology that failed and locked millions out of trading.
- Amazon.com Inc. filed a request with the Federal Trade Commission seeking the recusal of new Chairwoman Lina Khan from antitrust investigations of the company, in light of her extensive past criticisms of the online giant. “Given her long track record of detailed pronouncements about Amazon, and her repeated proclamations that Amazon has violated the antitrust laws, a reasonable observer would conclude that she no longer can consider the company’s antitrust defenses with an open mind,” Amazon said in a 25-page motion filed Wednesday with the FTC.
- Critics of big tech firms cheered after prosecutors and lawmakers made moves against Facebook Inc. and its peers. Recent developments have underscored the challenges in using courts and Congress to reshape those businesses. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled Monday that a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit was “legally insufficient,” saying the regulator didn’t show enough proof that Facebook was a monopoly and that its practices harmed competition
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| Greensill Capital, a U.K.-based provider of supply-chain financing, filed for insolvency in March. PHOTO: DAVID HECKER/GETTY IMAGES |
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The U.S. accounting standard-setter on Wednesday said it is considering requiring companies to disclose key terms and the size of their supply-chain financing programs, a tool companies use to settle supplier bills later. As part of these programs, banks typically provide funding to pay a company’s supplier of goods and services. The supplier is paid earlier, but gets less than it would have without the agreement. The company pays the amount it owes the supplier to the bank, usually later than it would have paid its supplier. The bank then keeps the difference in exchange for its services. U.S. companies currently aren’t obliged to disclose supply-chain financing arrangements in their financial filings, which can make their liquidity position appear stronger than it actually is. |
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| Credit Suisse shares have declined 15% this year even as those of rivals have risen. PHOTO: ARND WIEGMANN/REUTERS |
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One of Credit Suisse Group AG’s biggest and longest-term shareholders, the Qatar Investment Authority, trimmed its stake in the bank, a blow to the beleaguered Swiss lender. QIA, a sovereign-wealth fund of the gas-rich Gulf state, cut its stake to 4.8% from 5.2% on Wednesday, according to its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Credit Suisse is under pressure to revamp following twin scandals from the failures of Archegos Capital Management and Greensill Capital. |
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- Exxon Mobil Corp. Chief Executive Darren Woods apologized and disavowed statements made by two of the company’s top Washington lobbyists after an environmental group released a video recording of their dismissing its public positions on climate change.
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| Ford said that its pickup truck factories in Michigan, Kentucky and Missouri will reduce or stop production for much of July. PHOTO: BILL PUGLIANO/GETTY IMAGES |
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- Ford Motor Co. said the computer-chip shortage will force it to cut output across more than a half-dozen U.S. factories in July, a sign that the supply-chain troubles could take longer to ease than auto-industry executives previously believed.
- Hopes among cargo owners for relief from record ocean-freight rates are fading fast as growing demand for China-made goods ahead of the holiday shopping season threatens to overwhelm container-shipping operations.
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| A Boeing 737 MAX test flight in Seattle last year. Boeing’s board has faced criticism after two 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019. PHOTO: KAREN DUCEY/REUTERS |
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- Boeing Co. is expected to name Brian West, a veteran of engine maker General Electric Co., as its next chief financial officer, people familiar with the matter said. Mr. West would succeed Greg Smith, the plane maker’s current CFO who is set to retire in July after serving as finance chief for a decade. Investors and current and former Boeing executives considered Mr. Smith to be a steady hand through the company’s recent crises, including the pandemic which decimated demand for new aircraft, and his successor was considered a key appointment.
- Hertz Global Holdings Inc. emerged from bankruptcy protection Wednesday under new owners and a new board.
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