Top Story Security Related

The Treasury Department yesterday issued two announcements of OFAC sanctions activity.

OFAC has sanctioned two Haitian individuals: a former member of Haiti’s parliament, Prophane Victor, for his role in forming, supporting, and arming gangs and their members that have committed serious human rights abuse in Haiti; and Luckson Elan, the current leader of the Gran Grif gang, for his involvement in serious human rights abuse related to gang activity in Haiti’s Artibonite department.

OFAC has also sanctioned one individual and more than a dozen entities and vessels for their involvement in the shipment of Iranian crude oil and liquid petroleum gas to Syria and East Asia on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and Hizballah.

For the names and identification information of the designated individuals, entities and vessels involved in the two OFAC actions, see yesterday’s BankersOnline OFAC Update.

The OCC has announced it has issued a proclamation allowing national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies of foreign banks to close offices in areas of Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee affected by Hurricane Helene. As is always the case, the OCC expects that only those bank offices directly affected by potentially unsafe conditions will close, and those offices should make every effort to reopen as quickly as possible to address the banking needs of their customers.

• OCC Bulletin 2012-28, Supervisory Guidance on Natural Disasters and Other Emergency Conditions
• OCC Major Disaster News Center

The FDIC has issued FIL-66-2024 with steps intended to provide regulatory relief to financial institutions and facilitate recovery in areas of Illinois affected by severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds, and flooding from July 13 to July 16, 2024. Cook, Fulton, Henry, St. Clair, Washington, Will and Winnebago Counties are currently included as affected areas. That list may change. Check FEMA's website at https://www.fema.gov/disaster/4819/designated-areas for any updates.

The FDIC also issued FIL-67-2024 to provide regulatory relief to financial institutions and facilitate recovery in areas of Connecticut — including Fairfield, Litchfield, and New Haven Counties — affected by a severe storm, flooding, landslides, and mudslides on August 18 and 19, 2024. Any updates to that list of counties will be posted to FEMA’s website at https://www.fema.gov/disaster/4820/designated-areas.

The Federal Reserve System’s FedPayments Improvement group is promoting the combined use of its FraudClassifier and ScamClassifier models for analyzing scam and fraud incidents. The Federal Reserve has released a video tutorial to help the payments industry understand the connection points between the two models. When used together, says the group, they can help organizations improve fraud and scam mitigation strategies, training and more.

Yesterday, the Treasury Department reported that OFAC sanctioned five Colombian nationals and two Mexico-based businesses under authority of Executive Order 14059, “Imposing Sanctions on Foreign Persons Involved in the Global Illicit Drug Trade.” The Colombian individuals sanctioned are leaders within Colombia’s Clan del Golfo—also known as Los Urabeños—which is one of the country’s largest drug trafficking organizations and a key contributor to human smuggling through the Darién Gap.

The companies sanctioned yesterday are located in Mexico and owned by designated Sinaloa Cartel fentanyl traffickers. One of the most notorious and pervasive drug trafficking organizations in the world, the Sinaloa Cartel is responsible for a significant portion of the illicit fentanyl and other deadly drugs trafficked into the United States.

For the names and identification information of the designated individuals and entities, see yesterday's BankersOnline OFAC Update.

FinCEN has announced it will hold a virtual information session on beneficial ownership information reporting requirements and how to comply with the Corporate Transparency Act on its YouTube channel at 2 p.m. EDT tomorrow, September 25, 2024.

FinCEN has announced its release of a Beneficial Ownership Reporting Outreach and Education Toolkit that can be used in efforts to educate small business owners about new beneficial ownership reporting requirements mandated by the bipartisan Corporate Transparency Act.

The toolkit contains templates and sample content that has been structured to allow private, public, and non-profit organizations to share and amplify this important information. The toolkit includes general background on the reporting requirements, as well as templates for newsletters, websites, and emails; sample social media posts and images; and information on how to contact FinCEN.

The OCC has announced enforcement actions recently taken against OCC-supervised institutions—

• A formal agreement with First Federal Savings Bank of Kentucky, Frankfort, Kentucky, for unsafe or unsound practices, including those related to strategic planning and budgeting, succession planning, liquidity risk management, and interest rate risk management
• A previously announced formal agreement with Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for deficiencies related to the bank’s financial crimes risk management practices and anti-money laundering internal controls in several areas
• An order of prohibition against Natasha A. Aikens, former lead associate at a Brooklyn, New York, branch of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Columbus, Ohio, for engaging in a scheme to steal bank funds and falsely reporting the receipt of counterfeit bills in the bank’s general ledger, resulting in losses to the bank of at least $201,000

The Treasury Department has reported that OFAC has designated a network of five entities and one individual—based in Russia and in the Russia-occupied Georgian region of South Ossetia—that have enabled and supported ongoing efforts to establish illicit payment mechanisms between Russia and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Yesterday’s action holds accountable parties that have assisted DPRK and Russian sanctions evasion and demonstrates Treasury’s commitment to exposing and disrupting networks that facilitate the funding of the DPRK’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missile programs and support Russia’s war against Ukraine.

For a link to the names and identification information of the designated parties, see yesterday's BankersOnline OFAC Update.

Yesterday, the Treasury Department reported that OFAC has designated 12 individuals in connection with the Iranian regime’s ongoing, violent repression of the Iranian people, both within Iran’s borders and abroad. These designations target members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), officials of Iran’s Prisons Organization, and those responsible for lethal operations overseas.

For the names and identification information of the designated parties, see yesterday's BankersOnline OFAC Update.