——- Major Casinos, Foreign Businesses, Money Exchange Merchants, and Others Targeted
IPNEWS: The authoritative Independent Probe Newspaper has gathered from highly placed sources that Federal Treasury Agents are currently conducting searches and other investigations into how some senior government of Liberia officials and sanctioned individuals are using Casinos, Foreign Business Owners, and Money Exchange merchants, as means to transfer monies out of Liberia.
Sources privileged to the information hinted to IPNEWS that last weekend, Casinos of Mamba point, Colony, were secretly investigated on transfers made by top government officials including sanctioned persons at their various.
IPNEWS further gathered that the ongoing investigation of the alleged U.S. Treasury Agents is to seek to establish how government officials and sanctioned personnel were using gambling companies and business houses to launder monies into foreign accounts.
The authoritative Independent Probe established that the alleged Agents arrived in the country on February 14, 2023.
As part of this ongoing investigation, IPNEWS understands that the officials of Farmington Hotel in lower Margibi County were locked hours into a series of questioning by the alleged Treasury Agents.
Contacts with the Public Affairs office in the US. Embassy near Monrovia, are still ongoing.
A Treasury Department notice on its official website read: “The United States Department of the Treasury is fully dedicated to combating all aspects of money laundering at home and abroad, through the mission of the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI). TFI utilizes the Department’s many assets – including a diverse range of legal authorities, core financial expertise, operational resources, and expansive relationships with the private sector, interagency, and international communities – to identify and attack money laundering vulnerabilities and networks across the domestic and international financial systems.”
In a Risk-Based Approach, Guidance for Casinos released by the United States Treasury Department in October 2008, observed that casinos are major transit platforms for money laundering if not carefully checked.
The report revealed that Casinos are generally subject to a range of regulatory requirements, commercial considerations, and security measures, which can complement AML and CFT measures: • Age verification. • Financial crime controls. • Social responsibility provisions. • Security controls. • Gaming surveillance, e.g. to deal with problem gambling.
The report further detailed that Land-based casinos vary in a number of key areas which may impact upon money laundering or terrorist financing risk, e.g. types of gambling offered; location, speed, and volume of business; types of payment, and payment methods, accepted from customers; the size of premises; customers (regular customers with membership rules or passing trade such as casual tourists or organized casino tours); whether the casino owner forms part of a larger organization owned by the same operator, and the general regulatory environment that the casino operates within.
For Internet casinos, the report stated that it is also varied, e.g. whether the operator has other websites, or whether an operator’s server is in a different country from other parts of its business. These differences contribute to significant differences between land-based and internet casinos in a number of key areas, including customer contact.
In August 2022, it was revealed that officials of the Liberian government had signed over 15 foreign lobbying contracts in the United States at a combined fee of around $3,000,000 (three million United States dollars) per year. Apart from Liberia, Ghana is the only ECOWAS country with an active U.S. lobbyist – one contract with KRL International.
Liberia, one of the poorest countries in the world, continually spends around $3,310,000 in foreign lobbying fees per year.
An investigation by Globe Afrique revealed a highly orchestrated money laundering scheme perpetrated allegedly by some government of Liberia officials. The scheme appears bold, audacious, and somewhat brash, considering the U.S. lists corruption as a threat to national security. Still, the Senior Liberian government officials masked their scheme under the U.S. Department of Justice’s Foreign Agents Registration Act program as foreign lobbying.
Again on January 23, 2020, the Government of Liberia signed another lobbying agreement with KRL at $140,000 annually. The U.S. Department of Justice website shows no record of payments. On April 21, the deal was terminated, even though a report emerged that the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) withdrew the total charge of $140,000 to cover this agreement.
Additionally, on February 14, 2020, another lobbying contract with Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck was signed at $120,000 annually – bringing Ed Royce on board. There is a limited number of records on whether the GoL made any payments to Brownstein. Still, our investigators uncovered information that $120,000 was withdrawn from the CBL.
However, on April 28, 2021, another lobbying contract was signed with Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck for $300,000 per year. Still, no record of payments being made to the lobbying firm.
The repeated lobbying contracts appeared to be a scheme based on lobbying contracts and default on payments to the foreign lobbyist while withdrawing the total amount from the Central Bank of Liberia and laundering the funds to their accounts – all under the noses of the U.S. Department of Justice.
On the heels of the repeated lobbying contracts, the United States Treasury Department on August 15, 2022, through the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated some Liberian government officials, namely Nathaniel McGill, Sayma Syrenius Cephus, and Bill Twehway for their involvement in public corruption in Liberia. These officials were designated pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and target perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world.
“Through their corruption, these officials have undermined democracy in Liberia for their own personal benefit,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. “Treasury’s designations today demonstrate that the United States remains committed to holding corrupt actors accountable and to the continued support of the Liberian people.”
Corruption has long undermined Liberia’s democracy and its economy, robbing the Liberian people of funds for public services, empowering illicit actors, degrading the business environment, and damaging the rule of law and effective governance in the country. Corruption also contributes to diminished confidence in government and public perception of impunity for those with power. These designations reaffirm the commitment of the United States to hold corrupt actors accountable. The United States is a proud and dedicated partner and friend of Liberia and stands with the people of Liberia in support of democracy and the rule of law and will continue to promote accountability for corrupt actors, regardless of their position or political affiliation. The United States is also committed to working with the people and Government of Liberia to elevate countering corruption as a priority, including bolstering public sector anti-corruption capacity, and reviewing and re-evaluating criteria for bilateral and multilateral assistance, including transparency and accountability. Holding corrupt actors accountable and bolstering anti-corruption efforts are both consistent with and reflect our commitment to implementing, the United States Strategy on Countering Corruption.
SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS
As a result of the sanction, all property and interests in property of these targets that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all dealings by U.S. persons or within the United States (including transactions transiting the United States) that involve any property or interests in the property of blocked or designated persons.
In addition, persons that engage in certain transactions with the individuals and entities designated today may themselves be exposed to sanctions or subject to an enforcement action. Furthermore, unless an exception applies, any foreign financial institution that knowingly facilitates a significant transaction for any of the individuals or entities designated today could be subject to U.S. sanctions.
The power and integrity of OFAC sanctions derive not only from OFAC’s ability to designate and add persons to the SDN List, but also from its willingness to remove persons from the SDN List consistent with the law. The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish, but to bring about a positive change in behavior. For information concerning the process for seeking removal from an OFAC list, including the SDN List.
GLOBAL MAGNITSKY
Building upon the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, E.O. 13818 was issued on December 20, 2017, in recognition that the prevalence of human rights abuse and corruption that have their source, in whole or in substantial part, outside the United States, had reached such scope and gravity as to threaten the stability of international political and economic systems. Human rights abuse and corruption undermine the values that form an essential foundation of stable, secure, and functioning societies; have devastating impacts on individuals; weaken democratic institutions; degrade the rule of law; perpetuate violent conflicts; facilitate the activities of dangerous persons; and undermine economic markets. The United States seeks to impose tangible and significant consequences on those who commit serious human rights abuse or engage in corruption, as well as to protect the financial system of the United States from abuse by these same persons.
