AML Conversations

John Byrne and Elliot Berman discuss a busy week in the AML, sanctions, and compliance landscape. Topics include AUSTRAC's enforcement push under Australia's new AML laws and its investigation into Western Union, fresh guidance on politically exposed persons from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, and the FBI's Art Crime Team's recovery of Egyptian cultural artifacts.

They also examine growing concerns surrounding prediction markets, conflicting federal court rulings involving Kalshi and Polymarket, new Treasury sanctions and proposed Section 311 action against a UAE-based bank, and the OCC and FDIC's significant changes to bank examination standards.

In this episode of AML Conversations, Brad Breslin, President and General Manager, Compliance Solutions at AML RightSource, sits down with Jeff Schlanger, former Manhattan prosecutor, institutional reformer, and author of "Doing Right: From Prosecutor to Reformer — A Journey Through Crime, Corruption, Complacency, and Change."

Jeff's career spans four decades on the front lines of accountability. He prosecuted the Westies and helped build the case against John Gotti. He served as the federal monitor overseeing the LAPD consent decree after the Rampart scandal. He later became the NYPD's first Deputy Commissioner for Risk Management, and he founded IntegrAssure to bring collaborative oversight to police departments nationwide, including the Aurora, Colorado consent decree.

The conversation explores what happens when institutions designed to do good drift off course, and what it takes to bring them back. Jeff shares the moment he discovered the FBI withheld knowledge of jury tampering during the Gotti trial, why he published his NYPD resignation letter, and how the Mickey Featherstone case taught him that doing right often means acting against your own interests.

For financial crime compliance and risk professionals, the lessons translate directly. Jeff draws the line from police reform to the HSBC monitorship, where he and Brad worked together, showing that the methodology of oversight, accountability, and continuous improvement is the same whether the rulebook is an LAPD procedures manual or the FFIEC guidelines.

Link to Jeff's book: https://doingright.integrassure.com/doing-right-homepage.html

Investigative journalist Zack Kopplin of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) joins AML Conversations to discuss his reporting on a Pentagon fuel subcontractor linked to individuals connected to U.S. sanctions targets. He explains how questionable contractors can remain embedded in government supply chains, why subcontractor vetting remains a persistent challenge, and what his investigation uncovered in Iraq and Lebanon.

Kopplin also explores the broader fight against corruption and financial crime, including beneficial ownership transparency, anonymous shell companies, defense contracting oversight, and the growing use of "golden passports" by sanctioned actors, fraudsters, and other high-risk individuals seeking to obscure their identities.

From tracing hidden ownership structures to uncovering international money laundering networks, this conversation offers a firsthand look at how investigative journalists expose corruption and why transparency remains critical to effective AML, sanctions, and compliance efforts.

In this week's episode of This Week in AML, John Byrne and Elliot Berman break down Treasury's renewed sanctions campaign against Iran and discuss what it could mean for global trade, enforcement efforts, and China's role in the sanctions landscape.

They also examine the U.S. decision to remove Syria from its State Sponsors of Terrorism list, a move that could pave the way for reintegration into the global financial system and future engagement with FATF standards.

Additional topics include Singapore's new Social Media Code of Practice aimed at reducing financial scams on major platforms, Europol's warning about increasingly violent museum heists, updates from OCCRP on corruption and money laundering investigations, and the FDIC's efforts to streamline the deposit insurance application process for new banks.

Plus, a look at recent anti-corruption research from the Basel Institute on Governance and upcoming AML-focused educational events.

In this episode of This Week In AML, Joe McNamara fills in for Elliot Berman and joins John Byrne for a packed week of AML news on both sides of the Atlantic. The conversation opens with the fallout from Treasury and FinCEN's final rule eliminating domestic beneficial ownership reporting under the Corporate Transparency Act, then moves to Transparency International's guidance for EU member states that have not yet published a national anti-corruption strategy. Ireland, one of the six late adopters named in that report, has now released its first national AML/CFT/CPF strategy, and John walks through its five strategic goals and three pillars ahead of AMLA supervision and FATF evaluation.

The hosts also cover the UN Security Council's 38th Monitoring Team report on ISIL, AMLA's warning that money laundering in the EU property sector could deepen the housing crisis, and the OCC's conditional approval of a national trust bank charter for World Liberty Trust Company, along with the sharp objections raised by Senator Elizabeth Warren and others over conflicts of interest. Stateside, they close on Treasury: an unreleased internal report on the risks of an AI bubble, and the department's public request for comment on GENIUS Act implementation. John rounds out the episode with a $165 million crypto Ponzi indictment reported by OCCRP.

Links Referenced
Transparency International, Good Practices for National Anti-Corruption Strategies in EU Member States: https://knowledgehub.transparency.org/helpdesk/good-practices-for-national-anti-corruption-strategie...
Ireland Department of Finance, Ireland's First National Anti-Money Laundering Strategy: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-finance/press-releases/t%C3%A1naiste-and-minister-for-finance-si...
UN Security Council, 38th Report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team (S/2026/651): https://docs.un.org/en/S/2026/651
AML Intelligence, AMLA Urges Crackdown on Money Laundering in EU Property Sector: https://www.amlintelligence.com/2026/08/news-amla-urges-crackdown-on-money-laundering-in-eu-property...
OCC, Conditional Approval for World Liberty Trust Company (CD 1385): https://www.occ.gov/topics/charters-and-licensing/interpretations-and-decisions/2026/cd1385.pdf
NOTUS, Treasury Internal Report Warns of the Dangers of an AI Bubble: https://www.notus.org/economy/treasury-internal-report-warning-dangers-ai-bubble?utm_source=content_...
U.S. Treasury, Request for Public Comment on GENIUS Act Implementation: https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0605