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Western Union Co, Englewood, Colorado, won a court ruling that bars Arizona from seizing funds sent by customers in other states to Mexico as part of a probe into drug and immigrant smuggling.

Arizona Atty. Gen. Terry Goddard obtained a warrant in September to intercept transfers of $500 or more between 28 U.S. states and 26 places in Sonora, Mexico, so he could look for criminal ties. The Superior Court in Maricopa County ruled that Arizona lacked authority over transactions from other states or enough cause to suspect wrongdoing. Goddard, however, promised to appeal. The decision does not affect the legality of similar warrants that Goddard’s agency uses to seize money sent directly to or from Arizona

Western Union had contended that the program was unconstitutional and threatened its relationship with customers. The warrants forced the intended recipients of money transfers to call and talk to a police officer on a financial task force, who decided whether a transfer was legitimate.

After nine months in office, Robert W. Werner announced that he will be leaving his position as Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network at the end of the year. He will be  accepting a position with Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., as a Managing Director and the head of Merrill Lynch’s Monetary and Financial Control Group and its Bank Compliance Group.  Mr. Werner assumes his new position with Merrill Lynch on January 2, 2007.  He was appointed Director on February 17, 2006 by then Secretary  of the Treasury Snow who also resigned a few months ago. Werner is the second permanent FinCEN chief to depart the job this year. His predecessor, William Fox, resigned on Jan. 30 to join Bank of America Corp.

U.S. Treasury Henry Paulson praised Werner for his public service. In a separate statement he said that “under Bob’s leadership, FinCEN has paved new inroads in partnering with the financial community to safeguard against financial crime while promoting the free flow of capital”.

Deputy Director William F. Baity will act as Director effective upon Mr. Werner’s departure.

MTRA’s 16th Annual Conference kicked off on November 12th in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with a record number of regulators and industry officials attending. More than 250 regulators and industry officials are attending the four day event, representing 41 member states and money transmitters across the country. The conference was opened by MTRA President Joseph E. Rooney of Maryland who welcomed the conferees and new MTRA members and outlined the objectives and goals of the association. The conference included an examiners school, where a money transmission examination composite rating was discussed, a comprehensive plan for investigating applications for licensing money transmitters was presented, and the new IRS examination program was discussed by IRS and FinCEN officials. The conference also included separate as well as joint sessions of regulators and industry representatives. The keynote speaker, FinCEN Director Robert W. Werner, was unable to attend and was represented by Senior Advisor Deborah Silverman.

This year’s theme was entitled “Pathway to Progress”. The program provided an atmosphere to facilitate networking and exchange between and among industry and regulators. The key note address delivered on behalf of FinCEN Director Werner, emphasized the important role states are playing in licensing and examining money transmitters thereby diminishing the money laundering risks associated with unlicensed money transmitters. There were also timely presentations on microfinance, money transmission to Latin American countries, and money transmission through the internet and stored value cards. A panel consisting of federal and state bank regulators and Deborah Silverman, Senior Program Advisor for Policy at FinCEN, had a healthy discussion of the reasons banks are closing accounts of money transmitters and ways to address the problem.

President Joseph E. Rooney announced that MTRA is developing a formal curriculum for a week long school for examiners and analysts. The school will offer courses to examiners and analysts to train them in the conduct of comprehensive intrastate and interstate examinations of money transmitters. It will also help many states which do not examine money transmitters to develop examination programs. The first 5-day school will be held in early 2007, separate from a the annual conference, at a central location to accommodate travelers from across the country. President Rooney thanked the MTRA Board of Directors and MTRA Administrator Susan Shermer for the organization of the conference and announced that the 2007 conference will be placed soon on the MTRA web site.

On October 20, 2006, the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, sentenced Dominic ADU-GYAMFI, of Potomac Falls, Virginia. ADU-GYAMFI, president of Reston International Corporation dba RediKash, received 12 months and a day in prison, two years’ supervised release, and was ordered to forfeit the entire $241,452 that ICE seized, for operating a Prohibited Money Service Business in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1960.

In May 2006, ADU-GYAMFI pleaded guilty to a one-count information charging him with 18 U.S.C. 1960. According to his guilty plea, ADU-GYAMFI transmitted over $28 million to overseas locations, including Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, England, Hong Kong, China, Cyprus and India. In 1992, Dominic ADU-GYAMFI incorporated Reston International Corporation in the Commonwealth of Virginia and established himself as president of the corporation d.b.a. RediKash. From December 2002 through the end of 2005, ADU-GYAMFI and others acting at his direction engaged in the business of money transmitting in Virginia, using the entity Reston International Corporation, dba RediKash. In 2004 and 2005, ADU-GYAMFI submitted applications to the Virginia State Corporation Commission’s, Bureau of Financial Institutions (SCC), to obtain a state license to transmit money. SCC sent ADU-GYAMFI certified letters deferring both applications and seeking additional information. A January 10, 2005 letter from the SCC directed ADU-GYAMFI to “immediately cease any and all money transmission business … since it is not licensed to conduct such business [in Virginia].” ADU-GYAMFI continued his illegal business, despite these warnings.

In March 2005, an informant posing as a drug dealer entered the RediKash business in Woodbridge, provided fictitious identification and asked how he could quickly send money to his drug-dealing boss with no questions asked. The RediKash employee accepted the money, knowing it to be illegal proceeds and transmitted it to a person in Accra, Ghana, noted as an OFAC-Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker. The money actually employed to obtain incriminating information were actually HIDTA designated POI/POE funds.

ICE executed search and seizure warrants on ADU-GYAMFI ‘s businesses and residence in December 2005, seizing numerous records and $241,452 from three bank accounts in Virginia. An ICE task force officer from the Virginia Office of Attorney General (VA-OAG) investigated this case through the ICE-led Annandale HIDTA Money Laundering Initiative, comprising of members from ICE, VA-OAG, FBI, Prince William County PD, and the Metropolitan PD.

John Reich, Chairman, Office of Thrift Supervision

Robert Werner, Director, FinCEN

Sheila Bair, Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Scott Alvarez, General Counsel, Federal Reserve Board

John Dugan, Comptroller of the Currency