The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network today finalized a rule cutting off a Cambodian firm from the U.S. financial system, with the agency saying the firm acts as a conduit for laundering money obtained through romance scams and other cybercrimes.
FinCEN first proposed in May to designate the Huione Group as a financial institution of primary money laundering concern. The rule finalized today makes the designation official.
“By finalizing this rule, covered financial institutions are now prohibited from opening or maintaining correspondent accounts for or on behalf of Huione Group, and are required to take reasonable steps not to process transactions for the correspondent account of a foreign banking institution in the United States if such a transaction involves Huione Group, preventing indirect access by Huione Group to the U.S. financial system,” FinCEN said in a statement.
In related news, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced it has imposed sanctions on 146 targets within the Prince Group Transnational Criminal Organization (Prince Group TCO), a Cambodia-based network that OFAC said operates a transnational criminal empire through online investment scams targeting Americans and others worldwide.
