The State of North Dakota has passed a law prohibiting the owners of life insurance policies from selling their interest to third parties for a period of five (5) years, and there is a movement amongst legislators in other states to follow suit. Should this occur, life settlement brokers or other investors would not be able to fund policy purchase for short-term resale. More ominously, money launderers for criminal organisations, concerned that lucrative investments in the secondary life insurance market might become scarce, may now choose to go on a major buying spree. if so, they may be moving large amounts of criminal proceeds through financial institutions en route to life settlement sellers.

Austrian authorities have reported that they have frozen $4m on deposit in a major Austrian bank that was transferred from Russia to the correspondent account of the now-closed Diskont Bank. Other funds, significantly more,were transfered through Austria, but have now left the country. There are suspected links between the revocation of Diskont Bank's charter and the murder of Andrei Kozlov, First Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR), last year.

No details have been released as to the identity of the 37 year-old Lebanese-American money launderer arrested in Dubai in February in a crackdown on financial crime in the UAE. His name could provide an important clue to uncovering the pipelines he utilised. There are allegations that drug proceeds were placed in EU banks, and then wired to Dubai. No UAE nationals were arrested in the case, according to published reports, only Americans, Europeans and Asians.

As the United States moves to increase sanctions against Sudan in the United Nations for the ongoing genocide occurring in Darfur Province, its Treasury Department filed SDN designations against 30 companies alleged to contribute to the government-sponsored war crimes, as well as three major individuals accused of crimes against humanity and other grave offences.

Reports that Hizballah has financed the construction of major defensive fortifications north of the Litani River in Lebanon with the illegal sale of conflict diamonds has increased operational risk for financial institutions involved in banking Lebanese precious gems dealers and traders. This area, which lies just to the north of the region occupied by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), has been unilaterally declared a no-go zone for journalists by Hizballah, though some of the preparations for war can be seen from afar. If some rogue Lebanese precious gems dealers are supporting the creation of this new Hizballah military zone, one should reasonably expect some sort of retribution. Any bank involved may find itself "collateral damage" in the war on terrorism.

The Government of Israel, in commenting upon the arrest this week of 33 Palestinian politicians and officials affiliated with the global terrorist organisation HAMAS, stated that these individuals were detained due to their involvement in terrorist financing and money laundering. This is a clear sign that even minor HAMAS officials represent an unacceptable level of risk as bank clients, as the terrorist financing designation carries with it reputation damage, and potential exposure to severe US regulatory action, something that you do not want under any circumstances.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control, OFAC, has published a list of providers of air travel and remittance forwarders authorised to transact business in the Republic of Cuba. We provide our readers with the Internet address below so that they can check it against their client list. Only authorised providers can send remittances, and if you are banking NBFIs that deal with Cuban-American nationals, you should review this list to confirm their status.

There are persistent rumours that one of reasons that a major stumbling block in settling the nuclear dispute between the US and the Democatic Peoples Republic of Korea, North Korea, is the DPRK demand that its frozen $25m, presently sitting in Banco Delta Asia accounts, be released through to it through a United States bank. In fact, the reports are that one of America's largest banks has been approached to actually funnel the money through its accounts. The theory is that this event will demonstrate to the global banking community that it is safe once again to bank North Korean funds.

For those readers who have been following the case of the oldest man to have ever been charged with a Federal felony in the United States, he has been sentenced. You may recall that he finally entered into a plea agreement back in February. Albert Facchiano, also known as the "Old Man," amongst other less flattering aliases, received a sentence yesterday in US District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida of six months' house arrest (home confinement), and 18 months' probation, on a racketeering indictment alleging bank fraud, witness tampering and extortion. He could have received as much as 30 years' imprisonment, but his age and poor health were reasons that the US Attorney's office recommended a sentence of house arrest. The case involved several defendants reportedly involved in organised crime activities in Florida and New York, and included money laundering allegations.

In a startling disclosure made to the United States Congress, it has been revealed that the only list the Internal Revenue Service looks at to see whether tax-exempt organisations are linked to terrorist financing is the OFAC list. The US Senate Finance Committee, commenting on a report released by the Treasury Inspector General for tax Administration, stated that the US taxman should have access to a more comprehensive list, in order to pinpoint ties between charitable and non-profit organisations, and terrorists.