From Paul O’Donoghue at AMLi
HAPPY Friday, as we arrive at the end of another jam-packed week in the world of AFC.
The U.S. made plenty of headlines this week. First up, in a rare decision, the Treasury Department has moved to block a private Swiss bank from the U.S. financial system.
The organization said that MBaer Merchant Bank AG supported illicit actors linked to Iran and Russia.
The Treasury alleged MBaer and its employees had facilitated corruption linked to Russian money laundering. It also alleged money laundering and terrorist financing on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Quds Force, which are sanctioned by the U.S.
“MBaer has funneled over a hundred million dollars through the U.S. financial system on behalf of illicit actors tied to Iran and Russia,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “Banks should be on notice that the U.S. Treasury will aggressively protect the integrity of the U.S. financial system. Using the full force of our authorities.”
The last bank in Europe to suffer such a fate was Latvia’s ABLV, which was shut in 2018 when U.S. authorities accused it of money laundering and U.S. sanctions breaches.
AFC BOSS: John Hurley, the United States’ top AFC chief, is being strongly linked to an ambassador role.
The development comes following reports that Mr Hurley decided to quit his position as Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI), one of the country’s most important national security roles.
The Washington Post reported that Mr Hurley “began telling associates in recent weeks that he was leaving his post”.
It also linked his departure to the administration’s crackdown on fraud in the Somali immigrant community in Minnesota.
A Treasury source told AML Intelligence that “the whole thing is fake”.
The source said Hurley was still in negotiations with the White House to become an ambassador “which would be a promotion.”
“He will likely be an ambassador,” the senior source said.
TRAFFICKING: European officials have dismantled an international criminal network accused of laundering cocaine profits for Italian organised crime groups after tracing suspicious financial transactions.
Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency, said: “What began as suspicious financial movements uncovered a sophisticated laundering system servicing members of the Camorra and the ‘Ndrangheta.
CITIZENSHIP INFO: The Trump administration is considering requiring banks to collect citizenship information from customers.
U.S banks are required to adhere to AML and KYC rules and list where a customer lives. However, they have not previously been charged with verifying a person’s citizenship status.
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BLACK AXE: Irish police have seized gang-affiliation clothing and merchandise in raids targeting the notorious Black Axe Gang.
Officers raided the homes of 11 senior members of the group, also known as the Neo Black Movement (NBM).
BSA IMPACT: Finally, BSA (Bank Secrecy Act) filings underpinned nearly every major financial crime case investigated by IRS-CI (Criminal Investigation), according to its 2025 figures.
A new report from the organization said that 94% of IRS-CI cases were searched against BSA records in FY25, generating more than 3.9 million searches.
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Stephen and the team at AMlintelligence.