USA

US company to pay USD500,000+ for maybe not breaching sanctions.

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The USA's Office of Foreign Assets Control has reached an agreement with a company from Connecticut over "apparent violations" of US sanctions against Iran.

Hang on... "apparent violations"? And the company has agreed to pay? It's time to abandon the linguistic and legal pussyfooting around.

Publication:

Sanctions In Action

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Even as Brexit falters, US and UK "finalise" a deal

The UK's Treasury is not anxious to make it known that the UK is, despite the cries of various EU officials, in fact ready, willing and kind-of able to enter into bi-lateral agreements with third countries. The US Treasury, on the other hand, thinks shouting it from the rooftops is a good idea and has issued a notice regarding an agreement relating to "Prudential Measures Regarding Insurance and Reinsurance (U.S.-UK Covered Agreement. " But.. there's a stumbling block.

BIScom Subsection:

Regulation

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USA's IRS warns of sharp increase in income tax related spam-scams

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Two related statements from the IRS and other agencies highlight two specific risks. The first is password security and the second is phishing, etc. scams. By the way, "Summit Partners" (which appears in the statements) isn't a firm - it's someone's idea of a buzzword. Ignore it. It only means "other government agencies." Also, they have one thing dangerously wrong.

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Pump and Dump: not going away any time soon

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With the superficial attitudes of commentators on all sides of the media divide pushing risk and compliance professionals in the direction of their fashion-driven topics, it's useful to remind readers that while they are focussed on the next big thing, past big things remain a threat. Pump and dump is an example of market manipulation and, of course, a predicate crime for money laundering or, even, funding future crime including, possible, terrorist activity. What is even more surprising is that the same names crop up repeatedly but they never go to jail.

BIScom Subsection:

Market Manipulation

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US cities and states sue oil companies over climate change

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The city of New York has issued civil proceedings against five of the largest oil companies alleging that they are responsible for climate change and passing the resulting costs onto local governments. Others are joining in with California being the latest to sign up.

CoNet Section:

Oil, Gas and Petrol

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USA offers tax breaks to landlords helping victims of natural disaster

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As Asia continues to struggle to come to terms with a series of enormous natural disasters, the USA's Inland Revenue Service has come up with a scheme to help victims of similar events. It appears to be a groundbreaking idea that can offer some genuine assistance - if it's done right.

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Today is a big day in the USA - and its CDD rules are still rubbish.

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The USA makes a lot of noise about money laundering, etc. and since the early 1990s, it's been at the forefront of pointing out the inadequacies of other jurisdictions while having a surprisingly lax, even holey, regime at home. Let's not forget that there were times when death threats were made to politicians who supported an improved KYC regime and civil rights groups protested in the streets and in forceful terms in the a media that was more than happy to accommodate them. Yes, the USA PATRIOT Act improved matters and there have been incremental improvements but equally there have been serious mistakes. But today is a good day as raft of helpful requirements comes into force under the headline "Customer Due Diligence
Requirements for Financial Institutions." Yet, today is also a bad day: as usual with the USA, it's a half-arsed attempt that falls short of what is actually required.

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US withdraws from Iran Nuclear Deal

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Yesterday, the USA's President Trump announced that the US would leave the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action a.k.a. the Iran Nuclear Deal. Below is a list of resources.

BIScom Subsection:

Regulation

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USA - Federal corporate tax - behind the buzzwords.

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A press release from the USA's Inland Revenue Service is headed "Many corporations will pay a blended federal income tax." For heaven's sake: what sounds like something special is nothing of the kind and is an example of buzzword-mania when simplicity would better serve the audience. It's time that government departments stopped trying to sound trendy and just said what they need to say.

Here's what the IRS needed to say.

CoNet Section:

Corporate Management

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A conversation with a call centre.

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Recently, I found this old (March 2013) on-line chat with Amazon.com's US call centre lurking on my hard disk. Before deleting it, I read it. It's both very funny and an object lesson in the frustrations of dealing with people who have no power to control the situation their own company has created.

CoNet Section:

Marketing / Sales

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USA's IRS fires the starting gun on tax-refund scam season

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Wherever you are in the world, the so-called Nigerian Scam is alive and well and yesterday's notice from the USA's Internal Revenue Service is the release that will launch a thousand scams - and probably many, many more. It's so serious that the subject line in the e-mail from the IRS raised spam / scam alerts in the Vortex Centrum monitoring system, which can't be good.

FCRO Subsection:

Financial Crime News

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Purse Power: why US businesses are combatting the menace of gunnism

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It's easy to laugh at Americans: overseas they are often loud (in clothing and sound), they all think they are superheroes (why else would they wear their pants on the outside?) and they have only recently learned to build cars that go round corners properly. And their choice of presidents seems to be ever more ridiculous. However, what's happening now in relation to gunnism is, thankfully, no joke.

CoNet Section:

Security and Society

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Pre-housing loan crisis warning signs appear

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The UK's housing loan crisis of the late 1980s to early 1990s and the US version in 2006 that led to the global financial crisis were both prefaced by three very specific warning signs. In the UK, all three warning signs are once more present.

CoNet Section:

Politics and Economies

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Pre-housing loan crisis warning signs appear

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The UK's housing loan crisis of the late 1980s to early 1990s and the US version in 2006 that led to the global financial crisis were both prefaced by three very specific warning signs. In the UK, all three warning signs are once more present.

CoNet Section:

Politics and Economies

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USA to confiscate passports of tax debtors

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The USA's fascination with finding names of laws that can be turned into snappy acronyms reached new levels in December 2015 when it past the FAST Act. The name, Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act gives no hint as to what it does. It's a highly aggressive tactic against taxpayers with unsettled debt. The Act has crept up pretty much unnoticed but it is being implemented starting this month.

CoNet Section:

Politics and Economies

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