{"id":44112,"date":"2017-01-23T15:00:39","date_gmt":"2017-01-23T23:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=44112"},"modified":"2017-01-23T14:10:31","modified_gmt":"2017-01-23T22:10:31","slug":"doj-accuses-western-union-of-aml-violations-586m-fine-tendered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/doj-accuses-western-union-of-aml-violations-586m-fine-tendered\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ Accuses Western Union of Anti-Money Laundering Violations, $586M Fine Tendered"},"content":{"rendered":"

Western Union will pay US federal authorities $586 million for anti-money laundering (AML) violations, the largest forfeiture ever imposed on a money services business by the Department of Justice (DOJ)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"David
David Bitkower, US Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ, said Western Union had for years been processing payments for \u201ccriminals and scam artists.\u201d The company\u2019s forfeiture of $586 million is the largest ever imposed on a money services business. (Image: geneva.usmission.gov)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The wire service company\u2019s transgressions ranged from facilitating illegal Costa Rica-based sports betting to the processing of hundreds of thousands of transactions for global fraudsters and even human traffickers.<\/p>\n

In accepting the forfeiture, the Englewood, Colorado-based company admitted to criminal violations, including failure to maintain an effective AML program and aiding and abetting wire fraud. It has agreed to a deferred prosecution deal with the DOJ and a related settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).<\/p>\n

Costa Rica\u00a0Sports Books<\/h2>\n

According to prosecutors, Western Union turned a blind eye for years to gamblers in Florida who used the company\u2019s services to move money to unlicensed sports books in Costa Rica<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

The DOJ said the company had been \u201con notice\u201d about such transactions from the very earliest days of online gambling back in 1997, but the Justice Department’s analysts were still identifying suspicious transactions sent from the US to Costa Rica throughout 2011 and 2012.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

“Western Union failed to implement a sufficiently effective control against gambling-related transactions,\u201d the Department concluded.<\/p>\n

Global Fraud<\/h2>\n

Far more serious, the company failed to act to prevent transactions related to a global fraud scheme that targeted and fleeced thousands of Americans, many of them elderly.<\/p>\n

According to prosecutors, criminals contacted their victims with the promise of lottery winnings, discounted products, or job offers, or pretended to be family members in dire need of funds. Victims were told to wire money through Western Union, while agents wilfully concealed identities using false names and addresses.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs this case shows, wiring money can be the fastest way to send it: directly into the pockets of criminals and scam artists,\u201d said David Bitkower, the DOJ’s Principal Deputy Assistant\u00a0Attorney General for its Criminal Division.<\/p>\n

Not Stopping Traffickers<\/h2>\n

Many illicit transactions were for funds sent by undocumented Chinese immigrants to pay off their traffickers, the DOJ said. Chief Richard Weber, a criminal investigator with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), said the company showed \u201cblatant disregard\u201d for its anti-money laundering responsibilities.<\/p>\n

“Western Union, the largest money service business in the world, has admitted to a flawed corporate culture that failed to provide a checks and balances approach to combat criminal practices,” said Wifredo Ferrer, the US attorney for the Southern District of Florida.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“Western Union’s failure to implement proper controls and discipline agents that violated compliance policies enabled the proliferation of illegal gambling, money laundering and fraud-related schemes,” he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Western Union will pay US federal authorities $586 million for anti-money laundering (AML) violations, the largest forfeiture ever imposed on a money services business by the Department of Justice (DOJ). The wire service company\u2019s transgressions ranged from facilitating illegal Costa Rica-based sports betting to the processing of hundreds of thousands of transactions for global fraudsters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":44124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,10,19,60,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDOJ Accuses Western Union of AML Violations, $586M Fine Tendered<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The DOJ accuses Western Union of turning a blind eye to online gambling and fraud transactions for years, and now has fined them $586 million.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DOJ Accuses Western Union of AML Violations, $586M Fine Tendered\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The DOJ accuses Western Union of turning a blind eye to online gambling and fraud transactions for years, and now has fined them $586 million.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/doj-accuses-western-union-of-aml-violations-586m-fine-tendered\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-23T23:00:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-01-23T22:10:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/David-Bitkower-Western-Union-AML-procedures.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1416\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/doj-accuses-western-union-of-aml-violations-586m-fine-tendered\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/doj-accuses-western-union-of-aml-violations-586m-fine-tendered\/\",\"name\":\"DOJ Accuses Western Union of AML Violations, $586M Fine Tendered\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/doj-accuses-western-union-of-aml-violations-586m-fine-tendered\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/doj-accuses-western-union-of-aml-violations-586m-fine-tendered\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/David-Bitkower-Western-Union-AML-procedures.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-23T23:00:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-23T22:10:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"The DOJ accuses Western Union of turning a blind eye to online gambling and fraud transactions for years, and now has fined them $586 million.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/doj-accuses-western-union-of-aml-violations-586m-fine-tendered\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/doj-accuses-western-union-of-aml-violations-586m-fine-tendered\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/doj-accuses-western-union-of-aml-violations-586m-fine-tendered\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/David-Bitkower-Western-Union-AML-procedures.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/David-Bitkower-Western-Union-AML-procedures.jpg\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":1416,\"caption\":\"David Bitkower, acting Assistant Attorney General, said Western Union had for years been processing payments for \u201ccriminals and scam artists.\u201d The company\u2019s forfeiture ofr $586 million is the largest ever imposed on a money services business. 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