Financial Crimes Compliance
In the United States and across the globe, each day brings headlines of new investigations and penalties involving banks, broker-dealers, hedge funds, private equity, virtual currency, online fantasy sports and other non-financial businesses. Increasing regulatory pressures demand that firms implement and maintain effective financial crimes compliance programs to meet ever-growing regulatory expectations.
Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss's experienced team of former senior in-house compliance professionals and law enforcement officials advises and represents financial institutions and businesses in the U.S. and around the world in connection with criminal, civil, and regulatory investigations and enforcement actions. Our areas of compliance expertise include:
- The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and anti-bribery and corruption compliance
- Anti-money laundering (“AML”) laws and regulations
- The economic sanctions programs administered and enforced by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”)
- The ever-growing field of cyber-currencies and online funds transfers
- Best practices for the prevention of human trafficking
Companies can often mitigate or avoid enforcement issues by enhancing their financial crimes compliance procedures. We offer a unique perspective based on our combination of practical in-house operational experience and our prior law enforcement roles. We help our clients meet regulatory expectations, detect and prevent money laundering, stop corruption, and avoid inadvertent violations of complex and technical sanctions laws.
Our financial crimes compliance practice is varied. We have successfully helped foreign and domestic clients establish effective compliance programs that distinguish them from their peers and help them gain, and cement, access to the U.S. markets. We have also advised clients with respect to FCPA, AML and sanctions risks associated with transactions and acquisitions. We help our clients find efficient and reasonable compliance solutions, and represent them with criminal and regulatory authorities should problems arise.
Representative Matters
Advised the World Bank Integrity Vice-President with respect to a corruption related matter involving companies in India
Served as an expert witness for FINRA AML-related matters
Advised foreign and domestic financial institutions and companies from various business sectors on AML, anti-bribery and corruption and sanctions compliance best practices, including advice designed to help clients obtain and maintain correspondent banking relationships
Represented shareholders of a foreign bank in negotiations with FinCEN over USA PATRIOT Act section 311 designation
Advised multiple clients with respect to BSA and money laundering issues involving virtual currency
Advised numerous companies in the U.S. and abroad with respect to sanctions issues
In the News
Global Investigations Review has ranked LBKM as one of the world’s leading firms for cross-border investigations.
November 15, 2024Adam Kaufmann is featured by The International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators as "Fellow of the Month." In this Q&A, Adam discusses a figure who inspires him, recommends best practices in a crisis situation, and gives advice to future litigators.
September 13, 2024Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss made its debut this year in Chambers’ annual Latin America Guide, ranking as a leading international firm in the Corporate Crime & Investigations practice area.
LBKM is the only boutique firm to be so ranked.
August 2024The International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators has welcomed Adam Kaufmann as a new Fellow.
July 30, 2024Solomon Shinerock writes in Law360 about the unintended consequences of OFAC's expansion of the Specially Designated Nationals List.
Law360, July 26, 2024Cristián Francos was quoted in an article discussing the frameworks used in many Western countries to provide compensation to overseas victims of economic crime.
IBA Global Insight, July 23, 2024- Crypto Compliance podcast, June 25, 2024
Who's Who Legal (WWL) has again recognized Cristián Francos as a global leader in the field of investigations. WWL highlights lawyers at the forefront of the investigations field, spanning white-collar crime, corporate compliance and regulatory enforcement.
April 2024Carol Van Cleef provided analysis in Money Laundering Bulletin on attempts by regulators to bring the cryptocurrency sector under AML/CFT control.
Money Laundering Bulletin, February 26, 2024Carol Van Cleef was quoted in Money Laundering Bulletin on the dynamic compliance frontline of sanctions enforcement.
Money Laundering Bulletin, February 19, 2024In light of the severe consequences of running afoul of OFAC's directives, there has not been enough meaningful opportunity to challenge the scope and basis of OFAC's decision making, Solomon Shinerock and Annika Conrad argue in Law360.
Law360, August 23, 2023New York federal prosecutors have asked a judge to sentence the minority owner of a financial institution to two years of probation for his failure to make sure the institution was following anti-money laundering regulations, saying he was less culpable than the company's compliance officer.
Law360, August 18, 2023Tom Malinowski, two-term representative for New Jersey's 7th Congressional District and former vice chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is moving to an international litigation boutique to serve as senior policy consultant.
Law360, July 12, 2023The United States Supreme Court decided for the first time that foreign sovereigns and foreign-owned entities are subject to criminal prosecution in United States courts, rejecting the contentions of a Turkish state-owned bank that it was immune from prosecution under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (“FSIA”).
April 20, 2023Cristián Francos, partner at Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss and head of the firm’s Latin America practice, has again been recognized by Who's Who Legal as a global leader in the field of investigations.
April 2023According to recent policy announcements, the U.S. Department of Justice is increasing incentives for corporate cooperation to further its goal of prosecuting individuals rather than the corporations where they work.
While the DOJ has long pursued this goal, the recent changes create firm new incentives for corporations to report wrongdoing by their officers and employees.
Law360, April 12, 2023On March 2, 2023, the US government published a multi-agency notice setting forth red flags and warning of enhanced enforcement efforts related to third-party intermediary evasion of US Russia-related sanctions and export controls. The Financial Times subsequently reported that a senior Treasury official stated that the UAE was a “country of focus” for US investigators.
March 2023The International Bar Association (IBA) has appointed partner Cristián Francos as Co-Chair of its Business Crime Committee for a two-year term.
February 28, 2023Eric Lewis, a lawyer and expert on extraditions, said that Bankman-Fried’s decision to go along with extradition might have been due to his not wanting to spend months in a Bahamian jail, where conditions are notoriously bad. While Bankman-Fried has the legal right to challenge the extradition, prosecutors might view that negatively “when it comes time to look at both bail and a potential sentence.”
Washington Post, December 20, 2022Art Middlemiss appeared on the Gatenox series "Crypto Compliance" to discuss the FTX scandal from a compliance perspective.
November 17, 2022El Departamento de Justicia de los Estados Unidos colocó en el ojo público la actividad de transferencia de dólares sin licencia habilitante en los Estados Unidos. Las repercusiones para la industria financiera de Uruguay fueron tratadas por Cristián Francos y Jean-Jacques Bragard Cooper en el siguiente artículo publicado en el diario El Observador.
El Observador (Uruguay), November 15, 2022Aisha Bembry, managing partner of LBKM's Washington office, was featured in Law.com's "How I Made It" series.
Law.com, November 8, 2022The Lafarge case illustrates the extent companies with operations in high-risk jurisdictions must be aware of increasing ATA-related risk, including the risk of civil litigation.
November 2022OFAC, banking regulators and criminal enforcement authorities agree: there are big cases to be made in the crypto space. The latest example is OFAC’s October 2022 sanctions enforcement action against crypto-trading platform Bittrex, Inc.
October 19, 2022Solomon Shinerock joins LBKM from the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, where he worked in the Major Economic Crimes Bureau. Before that, he was an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of New York.
Law360, October 13, 2022A senior prosecutor who played a key role in New York’s investigations into former President Donald Trump has moved into private practice.
Solomon Shinerock, who left the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office on Sept. 30, joined litigation boutique Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss on Tuesday as a partner.
New York Law Journal, October 12, 2022Cristián Francos has again been recognized as a global leader in the field of investigations by Who’s Who Legal in its Investigations: 2022 guide.
May 31, 2022On December 9, 2021, the Biden administration published the first-ever United States Strategy on Countering Corruption. This Strategy sets forth a “whole-of-government” approach to combating corruption in the United States and around the world. Individuals and entities should expect an increase in sanctions and scrutiny of activities that present high corruption-related risk. As such, companies and individuals should immediately review current business activities to ensure that they understand their exposure to corruption-related risk and have in place commensurate controls to deter and detect potential problems. A proactive approach to corruption risk now will provide material future benefits if the expected increase in regulatory and law enforcement scrutiny results in a corruption-related inquiry.
December 10, 2021Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss PLLC is pleased to announce that John Moscow has been named to the 2021 New York Super Lawyers list. Each year, no more than five percent of the lawyers in each state are selected to receive this honor. In addition, A. Mackenna White has been named to the 2021 New York Rising Stars list. Each year, no more than 2.5 percent of the lawyers in the state are selected to receive this honor.
September 30, 2021Eric Lewis appeared on Corporate Counsel Business Journal's daily podcast, In House Warrior, to discuss extradition, OFAC sanctions, and what to expect from the Biden administration.
In House Warrior podcast, March 18, 2021LBKM partner Cristián Francos has been appointed as Senior Vice Chair of the IBA’s Business Crime Committee.
January 26, 2021Cristián Francos been recognized as a Global Leader in Who’s Who Legal: Investigations 2021. Who’s Who Legal is one of the world’s leading directories of legal practitioners.
January 2021In 2020 and beyond, foreign banks should expect the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, to expand its use of so-called special measures.
Law360, January 13, 2020Arthur Middlemiss spoke to Corporate Counsel regarding the September 27, 2019 consent order entered by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission detailing corruption offenses by Barclays PLC.
Corporate Counsel, September 30, 2019Colleges and universities must recognize the risk of potential corruption in their admissions process, and build intelligent controls to guard against fraud. Lewis Baach’s Arthur D. Middlemiss explains that schools should employ cost-efficient compliance measures and warns of the dangers in failing to do so.
Bloomberg Law Insight, March 29, 2019“This action should be a wake-up call to advisory firms who deliberately make false material assertions on a Form ADV,” said Lewis Baach partner Jason Berland. “This is particularly true when a firm blatantly fails to designate an appropriate individual to be responsible for administering compliance programs. In a situation, such as the one here, where one of the chief compliance officer designees was allegedly unaware he was designated, civil money penalties should be a real concern.”
ACA Insight, March 18, 2019Non-US insurers with exposures to Iran-related business face a difficult six months to bring their business into compliance with US president Donald Trump’s newly reinstated snap-back sanctions
Insurance Day, May 17, 2018A government coverup of the Cohen reports “makes no sense,” said Aaron Wolfson, a lawyer who previously oversaw suspicious activity reporting for JPMorgan Chase. “I find that laughable.”
Washington Post, May 17, 2018Mr. Francos was quoted in the article saying, “If someone received a bribe, then someone had to have paid the bribe,” he said. “Companies should be well prepared [to be investigated].” He continued to say, many Argentinian companies that are contracted by the state do not have established policies in terms of compliance and integrity, and will likely rush to put together new compliance programmes. Francos said “this shock could be good” to improve standards quickly. “This [scenario] creates a problem for companies, but also an opportunity that will bring change to Argentina’s business culture,” he said.
Global Investigations Review, November 13, 2017It would not be out of the ordinary, then, for a VEB official to have brief courtesy meetings with New York bankers about continuing business, though they would not be allowed to discuss new bond deals, said Aaron Wolfson, a partner at Lewis Baach who previously worked at JPMorgan and prosecuted banks for skirting sanctions.
The New York Times, June 4, 2017On Monday, Dec. 12, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision clarifying subsection 1 of the bank fraud statute, 18 U.S.C. §1344, in Shaw v. United States. Notwithstanding a veritable ocean of case law, regulations and statutes that delineate the difference between a bank’s property and that of its customers, the court quickly pushed such technical arguments to the side, holding that — for the purposes of the bank fraud statute — there is no practical difference between targeting a bank customer’s funds and targeting the bank’s own funds.
Law360, December 13, 2016“The court’s decision is in keeping with the long-standing principle that a fraud can be prosecuted under the criminal law even if the victim does not suffer a loss — which is an important distinction between criminal fraud and civil fraud,” said A. Katherine Toomey, a partner at Lewis Baach PLLC.
Law360, December 12, 2016Next week, for the second time in two years, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear argument in a case for the purpose of resolving a split in the circuits concerning the scope of the bank fraud statute — 18 U.S.C. §1344.
Law360, September 29, 2016- Latin America remains risky for FCPA violations despite more cooperation from governments"The degree of cooperation between U.S. and Latin American authorities is at an all-time high,” says attorney Adam Kaufmann.Inside Counsel, August 5, 2016
In this exclusive Of Counsel piece, Julie Copeland and Mirella deRose, take a look at the “ABCs” of compliance.
July 7, 2016A U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia imposed a below-Guidelines sentence for a Syrian-born U.S.citizen who pleaded guilty to providing equipment to forces opposing the Syrian regime in violation of U.S. sanctions laws.
Associated Press, June 10, 2016- KYC360, May 3, 2016
- Changes to Iran and Cuba restrictions make business simplier for UK and European insurersInsurance Day, April 21, 2016
Mr. Francos is a contributing author.
KYC360, April 4, 2016- Law 360, March 30, 2016
- The Wall Street Journal, March 9, 2016
- Does FinCEN have too much power?
In March, the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network imposed a corporate death sentence on Banca Privada d'Andorra by designating it as a foreign financial institution of primary money laundering concern under Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act.
The FCPA Blog, December 15, 2015 - Law360, August 11, 2015
- Wall Street Journal, January 30, 2015
- U.S. Regulators have vowed to hold more individuals responsible for controls failures at financial institutions and the spotlight on two compliance officers has already stirred concerns in the profession about being penalized for decisions made on the jobThe Wall Street Journal. Risk & Compliance Journal., September 15, 2014
- The Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued guidance Thursday on recognizing financial activity that could be tied to human smuggling and human trafficking.The Wall Street Journal. Risk and Compliance Journal, September 12, 2014
- ABA Bank Compliance, July 2014
- November 21, 2013
- NYPD Allows Civilian Complaint Board to Prosecute Cops for MisconductNew York Daily News, May 9, 2013
- ACAMS moneylaundering.com, January 29, 2013
Publications, Presentations & Events
A publicly-traded global transportation and logistics company agreed to pay $257,690 to settle an OFAC investigation that revealed 82 violations of US sanctions against Iran and Cuba by five of the company’s non-US subsidiaries.
The case illustrates the risk of failing to conduct adequate sanctions screening, as well as the advantages of self-reporting and cooperating with OFAC.December 16, 2024- 7th Marval Summit on Compliance, Anti-Corruption, and Investigations
Cristián Francos will be speaking at the 7th Marval Summit on Compliance, Anti-Corruption, and Investigations. Together with renowned speakers and colleagues, he will share experiences on the challenges, developments, and trends in this practice area.
Buenos Aires, September 3, 2024 LBKM is proud to sponsor this year's CenterForce Driving Diversity in Law & Leadership Summit in Washington, DC, where Managing Partner Aisha Bembry will be a panelist at a session titled "Shattering Glass Ceilings: The Unwritten Playbook for Career Success Beyond Hard Work."
Washington, DC, June 12, 2024The U.S. lags other countries in crypto adoption, and unfavorable policy is only one reason. Another is that the problems crypto addresses are more prevalent in other countries. Join LBKM's Carol Van Cleef and fellow panelists at this open forum to share your experience and ideas about what moves the needle on crypto adoption and usage around the world.
Austin, TX, May 29, 2024- 26th Annual Transnational Crime Conference
As part of the IBA's 26th Annual Transnational Crime Conference in Milan, Cristián Francos co-moderates a panel dissecting the intricate landscape of subsidies fraud in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Milan, May 9, 2024 Carol Van Cleef authored a chapter in this treatise in which industry leaders provide insightful analysis on how emerging advances in Web3, Blockchain, and Metaverse law interact within new and existing legal frameworks. Formerly published as A Practical Guide to Smart Contracts and Blockchain Law.
LexisNexis Canada, February 14, 2024- IBA Annual Conference 2023
Cristián Francos moderated a panel exploring the growing trend to arbitrate disputes emerging from compliance investigations related to potential criminal conduct and will discuss the varying ways national courts review and accept any arbitral decisions in this area.
Paris, November 1, 2023 - London International Disputes Week
Partner Tara Plochocki will be speaking on "The evolving impact of sanctions on commercial contracts" as part of London International Disputes Week.
Withers LLP, 20 Old Bailey, London, May 18, 2023 Cristián Francos discussed the operation of Money Service Businesses without a license, US government enforcement and prosecution, and the impact for local financial actors.
Le Biblo, Montevideo, Uruguay, April 13, 2023Adam Kaufmann served as a panelist for this CLE on federal and local enforcement trends in the construction industry.
June 22, 2022- Significant Expansion of Beneficial Ownership Disclosure Requirements in the United States
The U.S. Senate joined the House of Representatives and passed the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, a defense spending bill, which included the Corporate Transparency Act (the “Act”). That Act sets forth an expansion for the disclosure requirements for certain US and non-US companies doing business in the United States.
December 14, 2020 The health effects of Covid-19 have created personal tragedies that seemed unimaginable a few short months ago. Despite the efforts of governments, the virus has shown that the world is inextricably interconnected. How we respond will dictate whether that interconnectedness is a positive or negative force as we try to recover from the economic crisis that has arisen in the wake of the pandemic. In Latin America, individuals and companies have either begun to see, or fear, the return of currency controls, defaults and chaos as the governments of the region confront historic challenges. Many have once again sought refuge in the perceived relative safety of the U.S. financial system. However, investors may find that their sudden search for a safe haven may bring on a series of unanticipated problems.
May 22, 2020Banks serving clients in the many countries the U.S. views as high risk for money laundering should be aware that the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”), a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, plans to expand its use of “special measures” to fight money laundering and terrorist financing.
September 17, 2019Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss partner Cristián Francos spoke at ACI's Anti-Corruption Compliance for High Risk Markets conference on July 24, 2019 in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., July 24, 2019Arthur Middlemiss was a panelist at a CLE event titled "Doing Business in Mexico: Legal Developments in Arbitration and Financial Crime (Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Corruption)," jointly presented by Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss PLLC and Von Wobeser y Sierra, S.C.
The Cornell Club, New York, NY, June 18, 2019Cristián Francos served as Organising Committee Head for the 22nd Transnational Crime Conference in Buenos Aires.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, May 15-17, 2019- May 2018
Eric Lewis focuses on three key areas: (1) the widening of the net from sanctioned individuals to their families; (2) the application of the evasion provisions to foreign persons; (3) the bringing of new classes within existing sanctions.
The New York Law Journal, December 8, 2017- November 2017
- Panelist and Presenter, "The Responsibilities and Potential Liabilities of Those in Compliance"Thirty-Fourth International Symposium on Economic CrimeCambridge, UK, September 2016
- Co-author, "Criminal Prosecution Under New York State's Martin Act"LJN Business Crimes Bulletin, Vol. 18, Number 1, September 2010