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The OCC has expanded the reach of its earlier announcement allowing banks in the path of Hurricane Helene to close. Yesterday, the OCC issued a proclamation allowing national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies of foreign banks to close offices in areas of North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia affected by Hurricane Helene, if they are affected by potentially unsafe conditions as a result of the storm.

The Treasury Department has reported actions taken by OFAC in a coordinated international effort to disrupt Russian cybercrime services. FinCEN has issued a notice on Imposition of Special Measure Prohibiting the Transmittal of Funds Involving PM2BTC that identifies a Russian virtual currency exchanger associated with Russian individual Sergey Sergeevich Ivanov—as being of “primary money laundering concern” in connection with Russian illicit finance. Concurrently, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is sanctioning Ivanov and Cryptex—a virtual currency exchange registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and operating in Russia. The FinCEN and OFAC actions are being issued in conjunction with actions by other U.S. government agencies and international law enforcement partners to hold accountable Ivanov and the associated virtual currency services. FinCEN's notice will be effective when published in the Federal Register

According to Treasury, the U.S. Secret Service’s Cyber Investigative Section, the Netherlands Police, and the Dutch Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Service (FIOD) have seized web domains and/or infrastructure associated with PM2BTC, UAPS, and Cryptex. The U.S. Department of State has issued a reward offer up to $10 million through its Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Ivanov. Lastly, the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia are unsealing an indictment of Ivanov and another Russian national, Timur Shakhmametov. These actions by U.S. and Dutch agencies were taken in partnership with Operation Endgame, a multinational coordinated cyber operation with European partners, to dismantle financial enablers of transnational organized cybercrime.

For identification information on Ivanov and Cryptex, see BankersOnline’s September 26, 2024, OFAC Update.

FinCEN has announced it has published a notice in the Federal Register today at 89 FR 79184 withdrawing its finding that ABLV Bank, AS is a financial institution of primary money laundering concern, as well as the related notice of proposed rulemaking seeking to impose special measure five pursuant to section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act.

On February 16, 2018, FinCEN issued an NPRM that set forth FinCEN’s findings of money laundering concern regarding ABLV, a commercial bank located in Riga, Latvia, and proposed imposing special measure five under section 311, prohibiting covered financial institutions from opening or maintaining in the United States correspondent accounts for, or on behalf of, ABLV.

According to FinCEN, material subsequent developments since the issuance of the NPRM have mitigated the money laundering risks associated with ABLV. Shortly after the issuance of the NPRM, the European Central Bank (ECB) determined that ABLV—as well as its subsidiary, ABLV Bank Luxembourg—was failing or likely to fail. The ECB subsequently withdrew ABLV’s banking license, and the Luxembourg subsidiary was ordered dissolved. Thus, ABLV no longer operates as a depository institution. The bank is in the advanced stage of an irrevocable liquidation process supervised by the Government of Latvia, which ensures anti-money laundering/countering terrorist financing compliance. Furthermore, Latvian authorities have undertaken significant efforts to identify and address past illicit activity facilitated by the bank, resulting in criminal charges against owners of the bank and its senior managers. As a result, FinCEN has determined that ABLV is no longer a financial institution of primary money laundering concern.

The United States Mint has published [89 FR 78241] a final rule in the Federal Register removing the Treasury Department's regulations relating to the exchange of bent, partial, fused, and mixed coins, thus ending the Mint's exchange program for bent and partial coin, effective October 25, 2024.

In August 2018, the United States Mint suspended the redemption program due to the possibility of unlawful material being submitted for redemption. On May 5, 2021, the United States Mint issued a notice of proposed rulemaking proposing certain revisions to these regulations (86 FR 23877), which was withdrawn on May 3, 2024 (89 FR 36721). The United States Mint subsequently decided to close the bent and partial coin exchange program.

The U.S. Department of Justice has announced its filing of a civil antitrust lawsuit against Visa, Inc. for monopolization and other unlawful conduct in debit network markets in violation of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act.

The complaint alleges that Visa illegally maintains a monopoly over debit network markets by using its dominance to thwart the growth of its existing competitors and prevent others from developing new and innovative alternatives.

The Treasury Department yesterday issued two announcements of OFAC sanctions activity.

OFAC has sanctioned two Haitian individuals: a former member of Haiti’s parliament, Prophane Victor, for his role in forming, supporting, and arming gangs and their members that have committed serious human rights abuse in Haiti; and Luckson Elan, the current leader of the Gran Grif gang, for his involvement in serious human rights abuse related to gang activity in Haiti’s Artibonite department.

OFAC has also sanctioned one individual and more than a dozen entities and vessels for their involvement in the shipment of Iranian crude oil and liquid petroleum gas to Syria and East Asia on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and Hizballah.

For the names and identification information of the designated individuals, entities and vessels involved in the two OFAC actions, see yesterday’s BankersOnline OFAC Update.

The OCC has announced it has issued a proclamation allowing national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies of foreign banks to close offices in areas of Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee affected by Hurricane Helene. As is always the case, the OCC expects that only those bank offices directly affected by potentially unsafe conditions will close, and those offices should make every effort to reopen as quickly as possible to address the banking needs of their customers.

• OCC Bulletin 2012-28, Supervisory Guidance on Natural Disasters and Other Emergency Conditions
• OCC Major Disaster News Center

The FDIC has issued FIL-66-2024 with steps intended to provide regulatory relief to financial institutions and facilitate recovery in areas of Illinois affected by severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds, and flooding from July 13 to July 16, 2024. Cook, Fulton, Henry, St. Clair, Washington, Will and Winnebago Counties are currently included as affected areas. That list may change. Check FEMA's website at https://www.fema.gov/disaster/4819/designated-areas for any updates.

The FDIC also issued FIL-67-2024 to provide regulatory relief to financial institutions and facilitate recovery in areas of Connecticut — including Fairfield, Litchfield, and New Haven Counties — affected by a severe storm, flooding, landslides, and mudslides on August 18 and 19, 2024. Any updates to that list of counties will be posted to FEMA’s website at https://www.fema.gov/disaster/4820/designated-areas.

The Federal Reserve System’s FedPayments Improvement group is promoting the combined use of its FraudClassifier and ScamClassifier models for analyzing scam and fraud incidents. The Federal Reserve has released a video tutorial to help the payments industry understand the connection points between the two models. When used together, says the group, they can help organizations improve fraud and scam mitigation strategies, training and more.

Yesterday, the Treasury Department reported that OFAC sanctioned five Colombian nationals and two Mexico-based businesses under authority of Executive Order 14059, “Imposing Sanctions on Foreign Persons Involved in the Global Illicit Drug Trade.” The Colombian individuals sanctioned are leaders within Colombia’s Clan del Golfo—also known as Los Urabeños—which is one of the country’s largest drug trafficking organizations and a key contributor to human smuggling through the Darién Gap.

The companies sanctioned yesterday are located in Mexico and owned by designated Sinaloa Cartel fentanyl traffickers. One of the most notorious and pervasive drug trafficking organizations in the world, the Sinaloa Cartel is responsible for a significant portion of the illicit fentanyl and other deadly drugs trafficked into the United States.

For the names and identification information of the designated individuals and entities, see yesterday's BankersOnline OFAC Update.