“Those who wish to avoid sanctions do not stop trying and are always one or two steps ahead,” said Ivan A. Garces, Chair of Kaufman Rossin’s risk advisory services practice. To him, we are “simply playing catch up given the time needed to pass regulations and implement resources.”
For the specialist, whose practice focuses on providing risk management, governance, forensic accounting, and regulatory compliance services to privately and publicly traded companies and financial institutions throughout the U.S, Central and South America, and the Caribbean, the key lies in involving other industries in the fight against money laundering instead and sanctions evasion.
“What we really need is more involvement from non-banking industries. Banks only see the transactions that flow through their institutions, but all the illicit activity happens outside of the banking sector.” With this in mind, the specialist will analyze topics like the use of shell companies, trade financing, cryptocurrencies, and the metaverse’s potential to avoid sanctions during his participation at FIBA’s AML conference in late February.
“For example, trade-based money laundering has many parties [that could help identify wrongdoing], like importers, exporters, and shipping carriers. The same happens in industries like real estate, or high-value art, to name a few, so sharing efforts in various industries could help out,” he added.
In his opinion, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which constantly updates its commercial and economic sanctions list, could also benefit from having a national center “dedicated to detecting and degrading sanctions evaders and their networks.”
These and more initiatives to support U.S. security and foreign policy objectives will be covered during the premier Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Conference.
Participants in the hybrid event, which will take place between February 28th and March 2nd, 2022 in Miami, will also receive Kaufman Rossin’s complete Sanctions Compliance white paper, in both English and Spanish.