wmlro.com: Western Union pays USD94m to settle action

California's Attorney General, Edmund Brown and Arizona's AG Goddard announced the deal yesterday.

The settlement includes USD50 million in funding for the “Southwest Border Anti-Money Laundering Alliance,” a four-state coalition against money laundering that includes the attorneys general of Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas.

“For years, thousands of millions of dollars in smuggling profits have flowed freely between the United States and Mexico,” Brown said. “Today’s agreement with Western Union gives our region the resources and cooperation we need to stem the flow of illicit cash across our borders.”

The settlement follows a decade-long investigation by the Office of the Arizona Attorney General into illegal money-laundering activity in the South-west border region. The investigation found that hundreds of millions of dollars are being channelled to drug, weapon and human traffickers through Western Union money transfers.

To resolve Arizona’s investigation and more effectively address illegal money laundering, Western Union has agreed to:

• Provide USD50 million to establish and fund the Southwest Border Anti-Money Laundering Alliance;
• Invest USD19 million over the next several years into upgrades to its anti-money-laundering program;
• Provide USD4 million to support an independent monitoring program established to ensure anti-money-laundering measures are implemented; and
• Pay USD21 million to the State of Arizona to cover investigation and litigation expenses.

Additionally, today’s settlement requires Western Union to provide California with access to transaction data so investigators can track trends in the flow of illicit money, identify money-laundering points and target drug, weapon and human traffickers.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency estimates that USD18,000 million to USD39,000 million is being smuggled from the United States to Mexico every year.