- Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Legal Affairs, Arrow Electronics
By 
Aaron Nicodemus2022-08-16T17:00:00
An international scheme in which hackers accessed dozens of online brokerage accounts to manipulate stock prices holds cybersecurity and beneficial ownership lessons for compliance professionals.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged 18 individuals Monday for allegedly participating in a scheme in which they hacked into retail investors’ brokerage accounts, forced those accounts to purchase large blocks of two microcap stocks, then sold their existing holdings of the same stocks at artificially inflated prices.
The alleged misconduct, which took place from 2015-18, involved two overlapping groups of individuals operating outside the United States and Canada but involving offshore accounts and exchanges in a dozen countries. The scheme generated approximately $1.3 million in illicit profits, the SEC said.
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The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network finalized its beneficial ownership rule, which will require certain reporting companies to file basic information with the agency about who controls their finances.
Determining the ultimate beneficial owner of individuals and companies your firm does business with can be a tricky thing. The most efficient investigations require an understanding of your firm’s risk appetite and appropriate technology to automate searches.
In striking down penalties against cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash for violating U.S. sanctions, a federal appeals court may have started to chip away at anti-money laundering regulations established by Democrats even before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority fined the London branch of Australian-based Macquarie Bank Limited more than 13 million pounds (U.S. $16.3 million) for “serious control failures” that allowed a trader to conceal hundreds of fictitious trades over a 20-month period.
French defense and aviation contractor Thales Group is under investigation by authorities in the U.K. and France for allegedly participating in bribery and corruption.
Hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, named by Donald Trump on Friday as his nominee for Treasury Secretary, has a clear mandate to deregulate the financial markets should he take the helm.
