Massive anti-money laundering reform suggests busy year for US regulators Business
The United States has passed huge reforms to its anti-money laundering regime, bringing digital asset exchanges and others dealing in digital assets further within the reach of regulators. The reforms, introduced via the Anti Money Laundering Act of 2020, became law on January 1, 2021, as part of the country’s sweeping annual defense bill.
The reforms address the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), a central pillar of the U.S. AML regime. You might recall that the Bank Secrecy Act obliges financial institutions such as digital asset exchanges to actively detect, monitor and report potential money laundering activity. It is the tool being used to prosecute the BitMEX founders for willfully failing to implement anti-money laundering measures as required by law. Violations of the Bank Secrecy Act can result in criminal fines, jail time, or both.
Barack Obama should be attorney general, says Reagan, Bush administration lawyer
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President-elect Joe Biden has yet to formally announce who he will be nominating to become the head of the Justice Department under his administration. One attorney has argued that the best attorney general may just be Biden’s former colleague, former president Barack Obama.
In a piece for The Hill, Douglas Kmiec, who served under the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations in the Office of Legal Counsel claimed that tapping Obama for the post as DOJ attorney general would restore the rule of law. Kmiec explained that Biden would have to try and appeal to voters of both parties as well as independents and assure them that he will work in the interest of the country.