Anti Money Laundering News (09 Jun – 15 Jun 2025)
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Global AML News Weekly Digest. Here are the top stories making headlines around the world:
Founder of Crypto Payments Firm Charged with Laundering $500M and Evading Sanctions
U.S. federal prosecutors have charged Iurii Gugnin, founder of Evita Investments and Evita Pay, with money laundering, bank fraud, and sanctions violations for funneling over $500 million through the financial system — much of it from sanctioned Russian banks. Gugnin allegedly used his cryptocurrency companies to enable payments for prohibited transactions, while obscuring their true origin and recipients. He is also accused of failing to implement an effective anti-money laundering program and filing suspicious activity reports, and making false statements to regulators. If convicted, Gugnin faces up to 30 years in prison for bank fraud and additional penalties for related crimes.
FATF and MONEYVAL Strengthen Global Combat Against Financial Crime at June 2025 Plenary
The FATF and MONEYVAL joint plenary meeting (12–13 June 2025) resulted in significant decisions to aid the international financial system in addressing money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. The plenary approved updated standards and guidance to make payments more transparent, financial services more accessible, and implementation more effective and risk-based.
Key outcomes included the removal of Croatia, Mali, and Tanzania from the increased monitoring list following substantial progress in addressing their strategic weaknesses, while adding Bolivia and the Virgin Islands (UK) due to ongoing weaknesses. The meeting also endorsed a new framework to mitigate unfair impacts on non-profit organisations, simplified due diligence measures to promote financial inclusion, and updated Recommendation 16 to enhance oversight of cross-border payments. Furthermore, FATF’s updated guidance on complex proliferation financing, terrorist financing, and the oversight of virtual assets underscores its ongoing vigilance in a rapidly evolving financial landscape.
More Than 3,000 Companies Fined for Missing Beneficial Owner Registration in Kuwait
KUWAIT CITY — The Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Kuwait has fined more than 3,000 companies for failing to meet the deadline for beneficial owner registration.
The ministry’s spokesperson, Abdullah Al-Harz, said 148,108 out of 151,115 commercial entities successfully complied with the requirement — reflecting a 98% compliance rate. This includes 111,838 out of 114,339 personal companies (97.8%), 34,701 out of 35,066 sole proprietorships (98.9%), and 1,569 out of 1,710 joint-stock companies (91.7%).
The penalties for non-compliance range from KD 1,000 (approximately USD 3,277) to KD 10,000 (USD 32,774), with total penalties expected to reach KD 3 million (USD 9.83 million).
Al-Harz stressed the ongoing importance of adhering to disclosure controls and regulations in strengthening the country’s business climate and aligning with international standards against money laundering and terrorist financing.
Earlier this month, the Ministry set a 10-day deadline for companies to submit details of their beneficial owners — the individuals with ultimate control — or face penalties. The high compliance rate reflects companies’ growing awareness and commitment to financial transparency.
UAE Intensifies Crackdown on Money Laundering, Imposes Dh339m in Fines
The UAE is ramping up its efforts to combat money laundering and terrorism financing, issuing penalties totaling Dh339 million against financial institutions and individuals for non-compliance with regulations.
In its latest action, the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) fined six exchange houses a total of Dh12.3 million for breaching AML and CFT controls. This follows another Dh3.5 million fine against an exchange house a week earlier for similar failures.
The crackdown intensified last month, with Dh100 million in penalties levied against a single exchange house, alongside a Dh500,000 fine and a permanent industry ban for its branch manager. Shortly after, another exchange was fined Dh200 million.
Foreign banks and insurers have not been spared, with two UAE branches of international banks fined a combined Dh18.1 million — Dh10.6 million and Dh7.5 million — for compliance weaknesses. In February, another exchange was fined Dh3.5 million, while five banks and two insurers faced penalties totaling Dh2.62 million in March.
Across these cases, regulators found a common thread of weaknesses in customer due diligence, suspicious transaction monitoring, and verifying beneficial ownership — all failures that enable financial crimes.
Expanding oversight
The UAE’s crackdown is extending beyond financial institutions, now encompassing real estate, gold and jewelry dealers, auditors, and corporate service providers — sectors that may pose a higher vulnerability to abuse.
To aid oversight, the UAE Ministry of Economy is collaborating with Dubai Police to enable direct and secure data-sharing, especially related to beneficial ownership structures — adding greater depth to investigations and controls.
The message from regulators is clear: there is no refuge for financial crimes in the UAE. Institutions and individuals that do not raise their compliance standards face significant penalties, bans, and other restrictive measures, as regulators aim to align their controls with global financial crimes standards and remain off international watchlists.
EU Removes UAE From Dirty Money List; Monaco Added
The EU is set to remove the UAE from its list of high-risk jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies in their AML/CFT regimes — following its removal by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) last year. Monaco, Venezuela, Kenya, and Lebanon are among eight jurisdictions being added in its place.
The change, which still requires approval by EU member states in Parliament, reflects the EU’s continued commitment to align with international standards in financial crimes oversight, EU Financial Services Commissioner Maria Luis Albuquerque said.
While the UAE was removed from the FATF’s “increased monitoring” list last year, a 2021 IMF study suggested that being on the list dampens financial flows — adding urgency for jurisdictions to improve their controls.
UAE officials previously expressed frustration at their continued EU blacklisting. UAE Economy Minister Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, said, “I do not understand how the UAE is still on the black list.”
Last year, the European Parliament blocked attempts to lift the UAE’s blacklisted status, and in January, Albuquerque pitched its removal in a closed-door meeting with EU lawmakers.
The UAE is currently aiming for annual FDI inflows of $65 billion (Dh238.71 billion) by 2031, with FDI already reaching $30.5 billion in 2023, as per Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai.
ED Arrests Ex-Haryana MLA and Associate in Money Laundering Probe
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said it has arrested a former Haryana MLA, Ram Niwas, and a former official of the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) in a money laundering case stemming from alleged misappropriation of government funds.
The two — Ram Niwas and Sunil Kumar Bansal — were taken into custody on June 9 in Chandigarh. The ED said Niwas was an MLA from 2019–2024, representing the Narwana Assembly seat on a Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) ticket.
The case traces back to an FIR registered by Haryana Police at Sector-7 police station in Panchkula following a complaint by HSVP’s Drawing and Disbursing Officer. The complaint alleged “fraud and financial loss” stemming from suspicious transactions made from a bank account of HSVP maintained with Punjab National Bank in Chandigarh.
According to the ED, between 2015 and 2019, debit transactions amounting to approximately ₹70 crore were repeatedly routed to certain parties without a clear purpose, causing a financial loss of at least ₹70 crore. An internal HSVP inquiry further revealed that this bank account was not reflecting in its cash or IT records, implying clandestine operations.
The ED alleged that the fraud was not limited to just this account and sum but was much larger in scale.
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