FinCEN warns Latvia about the increased risk of Latvian banking sector being used for money laundering and expresses special concerns regarding two of 23 Latvian banks. U.S. financial institutions were prohibited from opening or maintaining correspondent accounts at one of them - VEF Bank.
The FinCEN Files provide a glimpse of the Latvian banks used by the ousted Ukraine's president Yanukovych, his associates and adversaries.
On a sunny day in June 2007, a group of journalists gathered at the airport in Riga. They were hoping to catch a glimpse of Oleg Deripaska, at the time one of the richest men in Russia.
A major donor of Latvia's biggest pro-Russian party Harmony has received payments from offshore companies used in the Magnitsky affair and the Azerbaijani laundromat, but says he cannot remember a thing about it.
After almost a year of haggling Latvia’s financial sector supervisors have finally agreed how they will probe cleanliness of funds at ABLV, the bank which is about to be wound up following allegations of institutionalized money laundering. This process has gathered dark clouds on the horizon for Pēters Putniņš, Latvia’s chief financial supervisor.
While the Washington-based think tank Atlantic Council fights against Russian propaganda, some of its experts lobby the interests of the Latvian banks accused of money laundering and help soften the image of the Russia-friendly political party before upcoming parliamentary elections in an EU nation on the Russian doorstep.