The core federal statutes regulating money laundering were enacted in 1970 with the passage of the Bank Secrecy Act and in 1986 with the passage of the Money Laundering Control Act. One of the chief goals of those changes was to ensure the ‘appl[ication] of [the money laundering statutes] in a consistent manner’ and to centralise the review and approval for prosecutions under the Money Laundering Control Act within MLARS. The DOJ’s guidance on corporate criminal enforcement remains highly relevant to the Department’s prosecution of money laundering and related offences, as corporations have increasingly found themselves in the ambit of criminal money laundering prosecutions and investigations. Recent US Department of Justice prosecutionsThe latest updates to the Justice Manual and the launch of new resources to update existing anti-money laundering tools and to address money laundering in the cryptocurrency industry have been accompanied by robust efforts to investigate and prosecute money laundering offences. Several trends have emerged in the DOJ’s recent prosecutions of money laundering and related offences:More aggressive prosecutions: The DOJ is increasing prosecutions that apply aggressive combinations of money laundering charges under the Money Laundering Control Act and wire fraud, securities fraud or tax fraud charges.

Source: Forbes September 13, 2023 08:53 UTC