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The Morning Risk Report: Financial Crimes Efforts Get Funding Boost as Part of Ukraine Aid Package |
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Good morning. The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved nearly $100 million in funds that lawmakers said would be used to boost efforts to crack down on financial crimes, including through the enforcement of sanctions on Russia and the seizing of assets tied to the country’s invasion of Ukraine, reports Risk & Compliance Journal’s Dylan Tokar. The funds were part of a nearly $40 billion military and economic aid package to help Ukraine repel Russia’s invasion that the Senate passed on Thursday with overwhelmingly bipartisan support. The bill, which will now be sent to President Biden for signing, brings America’s commitment to helping Ukraine to almost $54 billion. [Continued below...] |
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The bill includes $52 million for the U.S. Treasury Department. Lawmakers earlier said those funds would be split between the agency’s anti-money-laundering bureau and criminal investigators at the Internal Revenue Service. If the bill is signed by President Biden, nearly $30 million of those funds would go to the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.) said in a statement on Thursday. Senate Passes $40 Billion Aid Package for Ukraine |
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Binance's U.S. Unit Appoints Ex-Uber Executive as Head of Legal |
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The U.S. unit of cryptocurrency exchange Binance has appointed Krishna Juvvadi, previously global head of operations compliance for Uber Technologies Inc., as its new head of legal. Binance.US, which announced the appointment Thursday, said Mr. Juvvadi would lead the day-to-day-operations of its legal department and help advance its efforts to become the “most compliant digital asset platform in the U.S.” Mr. Juvvadi reports to Binance.US General Counsel Norman Reed. Before working for Uber, Mr. Juvvadi was a partner at SL Environmental Law Group PC and served as a trial attorney in the U.S. Justice Department’s civil rights division. Binance.US Chief Executive Brian Shroder said the company has focused on compliance with evolving crypto regulations and has worked to attract top legal and compliance talent. The company in February hired Tammy Weinrib, a former compliance executive at French bank Société Générale SA, as its chief compliance officer. –Richard Vanderford |
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| Carole House, director of cybersecurity and secure digital innovation at the White House National Security Council. PHOTO: JEENAH MOON/BLOOMBERG NEWS |
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Top officials from the U.S. Treasury Department, the Commerce Department and the New York State Department of Financial Services said that when it comes to the digital assets industry, the involvement of the private sector is crucial—not only for its technological advancement but also to ensure it isn’t being used for nefarious purposes. Comments from officials of all three agencies, delivered Thursday at a New York conference hosted by blockchain data platform Chainalysis Inc., follow an executive order signed by President Biden in March that directs federal agencies to study digital currencies. |
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A bipartisan group of senators led by Utah Republican Mike Lee introduced legislation Thursday that would take aim at conflicts of interest in the advertising technology industry and force Google to break up its dominant online-ad business. The bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.), is among the most aggressive of the legislative proposals circulating in Congress that aim to rein in the power of Big Tech. |
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Michael Barr, President Biden’s pick to become the government’s most influential bank regulator, told senators that he supports a plan to overhaul how banks lend to lower-income communities and that he would take stock of the financial system before adjusting capital and liquidity requirements. A North Carolina court has ordered convicted insurance mogul Greg Lindberg to turn over control of hundreds of his private companies to a special board in an effort to salvage four financially troubled insurers that have been under regulatory supervision since 2019. One of the largest criminal copyright cases in U.S. history has a new judge and potentially a new headache for the Justice Department in its decadelong effort to extradite and convict Kim Dotcom, founder of the file-sharing service Megaupload Ltd. |
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| Under new terms with Russia’s Gazprom, some of Europe’s biggest utilities say they can continue importing Russian gas without violating EU sanctions; a Gazprom treatment unit last year. PHOTO: ANDREY RUDAKOV/BLOOMBERG NEWS |
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Executives in industries as varied as banking, agriculture and transportation say they are watching the effects of inflation and looking for signs of a slowdown, even as many continue to say the economy remains healthy and consumer spending is strong. Rapidly rising mortgage rates and record home prices are cooling the U.S. housing market, as April sales dropped for the third straight month and fell to their weakest pace in nearly two years. China’s central bank cut a key interest rate while keeping another unchanged, an unexpected policy shift that economists said would likely help the country’s moribund housing market but bring only limited relief to its struggling economy. |
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| Tension between Ottawa and Beijing arose from the detention of Huawei’s finance chief. PHOTO: FAZRY ISMAIL/SHUTTERSTOCK |
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Canada said Thursday it will ban equipment made by China’s Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. from being used in the country’s next-generation 5G mobile network, following a nearly four-year security review disrupted by geopolitical tension between Ottawa and Beijing. With the decision, Canada is the last member of the Five Eyes—an intelligence-sharing network made up of English-speaking allies Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S.—to weigh in on the use of Chinese-made telecommunications equipment in 5G. The latest-generation mobile network is set to underpin self-driving cars and other internet-connected devices. |
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| A closed McDonald’s restaurant in Moscow’s Manezhnaya Square this week. PHOTO: VALERY SHARIFULIN/ZUMA PRESS |
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McDonald’s Corp. has agreed to sell its Russian business to existing licensee Alexander Govor after the fast-food giant said days earlier that it would exit the Russian market. The company said Mr. Govor will acquire McDonald’s entire restaurant portfolio in Russia and operate the restaurants under a new brand. Mr. Govor has been a McDonald’s licensee since 2015 and operates 25 restaurants in Siberia, the company said. |
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Ford Motor Co. said Thursday it is recalling about 39,000 large SUVs and advising owners to park affected models outside and away from structures, after receiving multiple reports of under-the-hood fires while the vehicles were parked and off. Applied Materials Inc. said Thursday that profit increased in its fiscal second quarter as sales rose, but added that supply shortages were holding the company back from making even more sales. Kohl’s Corp. slashed its sales and profit targets amid a sharper-than-expected pullback in consumer spending. Demand weakened as inflation spurred consumers to tighten their belts without the lift from last year’s government stimulus to help spending. Twitter Inc. said Thursday that it plans to slow what it deems misinformation around crises including armed conflicts, natural disasters and public health emergencies and elevate credible information. A Boeing Co. spacecraft blasted into orbit and began racing toward the International Space Station, despite facing an issue with two of the thrusters the vehicle uses. |
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Investors have rebuked two dozen major U.S. companies over their executive-pay packages in nonbinding shareholder votes, sometimes by wide margins or for the second straight year. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Intel Corp. investors owning roughly two-thirds of shares didn’t support pay plans at recent annual meetings. Coca-Cola Co. barely won majority support with 50.5% of the vote this year. |
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The board of Spirit Airlines Inc. rejected a hostile takeover bid from JetBlue Airways Corp., setting up a shareholder vote next month to determine control of the U.S. budget carrier. Spirit directors said Thursday that JetBlue’s $3.3 billion all-cash offer carried too much regulatory risk and that the board continued to back Spirit’s agreed combination with Frontier Group Holdings Inc., a deal that would create the fifth-largest U.S. airline. |
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