The AML Brief

Financial crimes intelligence for AML, KYC, and fraud professionals.

Oct 20, 2026

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7 min read

UBS Replaced Its Failed Wire Monitoring. A Relabeled Field Broke the Replacement.

FinCEN's record $125 million broker-dealer penalty rests on a fix nobody tested against the source data.

Oct 13, 2026

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6 min read

A Lawyer Said the Oligarch Owned Under 50%. OFAC Charged GVA Capital $216 Million Anyway.

A venture firm kept managing a sanctioned investor's money for three years, then certified a subpoena response missing about 1,300 records.

Oct 6, 2026

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7 min read

Canaccord Paid a Record $80 Million for Alerts Nobody Had Time to Read

Four people, more than 100 surveillance reports, thresholds nobody could justify, and 160 SARs that never got filed.

Sep 29, 2026

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6 min read

The Largest Forfeiture in DOJ History Didn't Get Its Man

127,271 bitcoin, forced-labor compounds, and a chairman extradited to the one country that won't send him to the US.

Sep 22, 2026

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7 min read

Swedbank's CEO Told Reporters the Estonia Problem Was Handled. A Court Later Called That the Crime.

The $386M fine came from Sweden's regulator. The criminal conviction came from what the CEO said about it to the press.

Sep 15, 2026

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6 min read

Rabobank Hid Its Own Consultant's Report From Regulators. That's What Cost It $369 Million.

The bank told the OCC no such assessment existed. It was sitting in the bank's own files, and it had already found $233 million in unreported activity.