Enforcement Actions

Wells Fargo Bank provided internet banking services to a customer while he was in Iran and after OFAC had "expressed an interest" in the customer to the bank. Remedies include IP address monitoring to geo-locate the whereabouts of customers.

21 December 2010 : OFAC releases details of action and penalties against Discover Financial Services, Riverwoods, Illinois, USA.

Acting under its Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) authority, the USA's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has assessed a civil money penalty against Baltic Financial Services Inc (BFS) of Montclair, New Jersey.

The argument is over, it appears. The UK's FSA has now succeeded in bringing to conclusion five criminal prosecutions, laying to rest any doubts that its powers do not include those. The latest case includes convictions for money laundering.

On 23 November, Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) today obtained an order in the High Court to disqualify Mr Steven LI Wang Tai, former executive director of Styland Holdings Ltd (Styland) from acting as a director for a period of six years.

"The employees of Lance Futures have been cold calling people to encourage them to purchase gold options. During the telephone calls, the callers from Lance Futures advise potential clients that they can verify on the website of the Frankfurt Financial Supervisory Authority (FFSA) that Lance Futures is a licensed financial services institution. The FFSA claims to be Germany's primary financial regulator. However, no supervisory authority by the name of "Frankfurt Financial Supervisory Authority" exists in Germany." So says Germany's real financial regulator, known (because only Germans can say or even remember its name) as BaFin.

ASIC has accepted an enforceable undertaking (EU) from former Gold Coast based property developer, Susanne Rae Percival over "advice relat[ing] to investments in a number of investment companies known as the IC Group. The IC Group operated principally from the Gold Coast under the management and control of Miss Percival."

The long arm of the UK's Financial Services Authority today reached beyond the UK and to Hessen in Germany.

The USA's FINRA has published its October 2010 enforcement bulletin. Some of the cases it describes show a disturbing lack of awareness of the legal and regulatory regime within which US businesses operate, particularly with regard to counter-money laundering policies and procedures.

David Radovan, of Donnybrook, Western Australia, has been banned from providing financial services for five years after an ASIC investigation revealed concerns with the appropriateness of his advice to retail clients. And found that it was likely Radovan would continue not to comply with financial services laws in the future.