Legal issues and news

A spate of recent account closings at churches and charities suggests that Operation Choke Point and other de-risking directives are causing collateral damage to faith-based organizations.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week.

Hacker groups like Anonymous have announced plans to target banks that are helping to finance ISIS and other terrorist organizations. But it is governments, banks and regulators that need to work harder at rooting out the sources of ISIS's funding.

This year, electronic trading will finally come to the bond market and more banks will adopt technologies that harness social media to flag potentially fraudulent customers.

Fulton Financial in Lancaster, Pa., reported lower quarterly earnings that reflected the costs of complying with a regulatory order.

The Obama Administration's issued looser rules Thursday for transactions in the small island nation, but banks still face impediments.

Regulators want banks to police MSBs for illicit activity, but they do not view all such businesses as high-risk, said David Cohen, Treasury's top AML official.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a division of the Treasury Department, has assessed a $1 million civil penalty against MoneyGram International's former chief compliance officer.

A new report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency finds potential industry threats from interest rate volatility, looser underwriting and other areas.

Amid huge regulatory pressure to strengthen anti-money-laundering controls, banks are grappling with a shortage of compliance talent.

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators on Tuesday released the latest guidebook for examiners to use in assessing banks' anti-money-laundering programs.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – An Alabama man was arrested and charged yesterday with filing dozens of phony federal income tax returns and hiring accomplices to deposit more than $200,000 of proceeds into accounts at Alabama Telco CU and a local bank, Community Bank & Trust.

NEWARK, N.J. – The estate for U.S. Mortgage Corp. and its CU National Mortgage subsidiary paid 26 credit unions and Fannie Mae an initial distribution of $8 million last week, repayment for losses accrued in the $140 million fraud engineered by company founder Michael McGrath, with additional payments expected.

HOUSTON, Texas -- The former CEO of Deer Park FCU was sentenced to six years in state jail for stealing almost $220,000 from the credit union.

NEW ORLEANS – A federal appeals court this week overturned a lower court ruling and remanded an appeal by four credit unions and three banks who sued Heartland Payments System for a massive 2008 data breach that exposed millions of credit union and bank cardholders to fraudulent transactions.

BALTIMORE—Five men, including the 48-year-old planner and his 20-year-old son who drove the getaway car, pleaded guilty to a June 2012 hold-up of an armored truck at Navy FCU when $220,000 was stolen in metro Washington, D.C.

CINCINNATI – The woman who created a credit counseling program at CinFed FCU was sentenced today to a year in prison for stealing as much as $400,000 from financially ailing credit union members she was supposed to be helping to trim their debts.

LUBBOCK, Texas – A former assistant accountant at a WesTex FCU branch was sentenced Friday to 37 months in prison and ordered to pay $690,000 restitution for a three-year embezzlement scheme.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA said Rick Metsger will be sworn in and join its Board on Aug. 23 in a private ceremony on Capitol Hill with NCUA General Counsel Michael McKenna presiding.

NORFOLK, Va. – Five individuals were arrested Friday and charged with accessing information of people who had applied for housing at a Norfolk apartment complex to siphon almost $90,000 from the victim’s Navy FCU accounts.