Jesse R. Morton

CNBC reports: The chief financial officer of conservative global news outlet The Epoch Times has been arrested and charged with leading a yearslong scheme to launder at least $67 million in illicit funds, federal prosecutors said Monday. The scheme — which involved cryptocurrency, tens of thousands of prepaid debit cards, fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits and stolen personal information — fueled a massive increase in The Epoch Times’ reported annual revenue, prosecutors alleged. From the Justice Department press release: From at least in or about 2020, through in or about May 2024, GUAN, while working as the Chief Financial Officer of a multinational media company headquartered in New York, New York (the “Media Company”), conspired with others to participate in a sprawling, transnational scheme to launder at least approximately $67 million of illegally obtained funds to bank accounts in the names of the Media Company and related entities (together, with the Media Company, the “Media Entities”). In furtherance of the money laundering conspiracy, GUAN managed, among other teams, the Media Company’s “Make Money Online” team (the “MMO Team”), which was located in a particular foreign office of the Media Company. Under GUAN’s management, members of the MMO Team and others used cryptocurrency to knowingly purchase tens of millions of dollars in crime proceeds, including proceeds of fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits, that had been loaded onto tens of thousands of prepaid debit cards. The crime proceeds were generally purchased by the scheme participants, including members of the MMO Team and others working with them, using a particular cryptocurrency platform, at discounted rates of approximately 70 to 80 cents per dollar, and in exchange for cryptocurrency. Once the crime proceeds were purchased, the MMO Team and other participants in the scheme used stolen personal identification information to open accounts, including prepaid debit card accounts, cryptocurrency accounts, and bank accounts, that were used to transfer the crime proceeds into bank accounts associated with the Media Entities. After the crime proceeds reached those bank accounts, they were often further laundered through other bank accounts held by the Media Entities, GUAN’s personal bank accounts, and through GUAN’s personal cryptocurrency accounts. In or around the same time the money laundering scheme began, the Media Company’s internal financial accounting reflected an increased annual revenue over the previous year of approximately 410%—from approximately $15 million to approximately $62 million. When banks asked GUAN about the increase in transactions entering the bank accounts of the Media Entities, GUAN lied, including to two U.S.-based banks, and claimed that the increase in funds came from donations." https://lnkd.in/eJQ5sADJ

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Yesterday the #DOJ announced an indictment against 16 individuals for involvement in a "Grandparent Scam" operated from Dominican Republic. The scam is alleged to have defrauded elderly American out of millions of dollars. https://lnkd.in/g_8kQy4N Here's how the scam allegedly worked: 🚨 Call center workers located in the Dominican Republic used VOIP telephone services to mask the origin of their calls. "Openers" called elderly U.S. victims and impersonated relatives of the victims. "Closers" impersonated defense attorneys, police or court personnel and fraudulently convinced the victims to provide thousands of dollars in CASH for non-existent expenses. 🚗 U.S.-based couriers picked up the cash from victims and delivered the cash to other co-conspirators referred to as "Money Collectors". 📫 US Mail and private package carriers were also used to receive CASH from victims. 💲 The Money Collectors conducted further transactions to obscure the source of funds. The funds were remitted to Dominican Republic by WIRES. ☎ Once the funds were wired to the DR, co-conspirators converted the U.S. dollars to Dominican pesos to pay call center operating expenses. This indictment reminded me of a post by Glenna Smith a couple of weeks ago. An elderly victim of a similar scam shot and killed an Uber driver sent to pick up a package. The Uber driver in that case was not involved with the scam. https://lnkd.in/gE8V2dpQ Fraudsters will use any method that works, even if it's "old school" like mailing cash or using cash couriers. #aml #grandparentscam #moneylaundering

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The inversion of sentiment polarity would be an indication of criminal popularity. Consider the sentiment analysis of criminal depositions or extant literature of masterminds like John Gotti, or the sentiment polarity of the criminal charge terms literally and you get a sense of the nature of the crime simulator. A comprehensive portrayal of the subjective qualitative research on sentiment analysis in organized crime cases in a legal psychology vernacular could paint a morbid picture of the dark American history crime noire of mobsters in general moreover ranking them in a new unique and novel way.

Our mission at Oportun is to empower our members to build a better future. We do that using intelligent borrowing, saving and budgeting tools that can improve financial health and resilience. A big part of that is extending responsible, affordable credit to people who have limited traditional credit histories and are not well-served by mainstream finance. That process relies on our use of billions of data points – both traditional and alternative – within a sophisticated underwriting model. We are excited to announce that we are now using new cash flow underwriting tools from Plaid to further enhance our credit scoring capabilities. Oportun was one of a handful of lenders helping to beta test Plaid’s new Consumer Report  product over the past few months, and we found its categorization of consumer cash flows can meaningfully improve our ability to score applicants. We are excited to more fully leverage Plaid’s new Consumer Report now that it’s live because: ·     Pairing this alternative data with traditional credit data gives us an even more comprehensive view of an applicant’s financial behaviors, improving the accuracy of our credit decisions and outcomes. ·     Automated access to this consumer permissioned data means we no longer have to manually review related documentations before offering a credit decision – accelerating our underwriting process. ·     It provides visibility into indicators that signal when we can responsibly extend a higher loan amount for qualified applicants, information that is nonexistent in traditional credit reports. At Oportun, we take great pride in scoring 100% of the applicants who come to us. Now, using cash flow data from Plaid, we will be able to scale to approve and offer credit to even more hardworking Americans who would otherwise be excluded from the financial mainstream.  

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Compliance requirements continue to multiply, you need a partner who can help you understand all the current requirements, new legislation impacting your plans, and most importantly, what it means for your firm. Learn more about how the MMA Compliance Center of Excellence can help you stay compliant, informed, and prepared for what’s happening now and coming next: https://bit.ly/3wxYsWM #EmployeeHealth #Benefits

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There seems to be an increasing main stream media push to re-characterize traditional small "c" conservatives (fiscal responsibility, smaller government, individual responsibility) as either "hard-right", "far-right" or "extreme-right" which subtlety imbed perjorative negative impressions. My sense is this is only possible because the traditional "centre" has moved to the left under most western governments. There is nothing hard or extreme about excersing fiscal and financial discipline, taking personal responsibility and supporting free speech such that important questions can be debated freely and openly without fear of recrimination, cancellation or jail. Respect and civility should be the goal with the full acceptance that their will likely be divergent views on many topics. Common sense needs to prevail over disinformation and misinformed narratives. Budgets do not balance themselves. It is important to think hard about monetary policy impacts. If we want the best outcomes, we should support a meritocracy framework. Toxic forever chemicals and increasingly pervasive microplastics are a problem. Global biodiversity is under threat and we are approaching several environmental tipping points. We need to embrace a massive scale up of nuclear power to help decarbonize and most importantly provide safe, clean, scalable and affordable energy for the coming exponential increase in power consumption that AI adoption will bring. There is an environmental footprint with all activities. The goal should be to minimize it where possible as the economy is a wholly dependent subset of our natural ecosystem, not visa versa.

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Explore our Top 10 Side Letter Terms Guide for 2024 and download a free copy today. Investor Side Letters are getting more complex and prevalent. Make sure you’re up to date on the top terms so you can stay compliant with investor obligations and SEC regulations. Our 2024 guide covers: 📈 Key trends in Side Letter negotiations  ⚖️ The impact of the Preferential Treatment Rule and other SEC reforms  🤖The benefits of an AI-powered private fund lifecycle solution Get this guide to help ensure your systems are ready to comply with new rules taking effect this year. https://lnkd.in/gVaMZw27

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So many of today’s business decisions are data-driven when you look under the hood. As the saying goes, “adopt or become obsolete.” Put simply, if you aren’t using data to benefit your firm and clients, someone else is. Doing so is in your best interest, as gathering and using data can help you provide a more attractive value proposition while increasing profitability. While this endeavor might seem daunting from the outset, it doesn’t have to be complicated. Read more from Docupace Michael Vossler on how to use data to maximize your firm's success. https://lnkd.in/ggaDAywt

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How much risk is your board willing to tolerate in order to take on a capital campaign? Learn how to evaluate your board’s risk tolerance in this mini guide. https://lnkd.in/e5M-CMNh

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Streamlined compliance tech simplifies your processes, removing the stress and guesswork. Turnkey features keep your firm audit-ready, minimizing worries over details. Spend less time on the minutiae and more on growth strategies. No complications, delays, or inconvenience—just integrated tools for smoother workflows. Download our 2024 compliance calendar: https://hubs.li/Q02lpRWV0 #ComplianceTech #WealthTech

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Unleash the power of “what if.” As a financial advisor, helping your clients make informed decisions is your specialty. With ProjectionSmart, you can let curiosity guide your analysis: 🔍 Visualize different scenarios: Explore sales fluctuations, new hires, and more. 📊 Assess the impact: See how changes affect cash flow and key metrics. 🧐 Empower confident choices: Base decisions on data-backed insights. ProjectionSmart equips you with the tools to simulate and evaluate the outcomes of various paths, ensuring your clients embark on the most promising and profitable ventures. Experience the transformative potential of ProjectionSmart today. https://lnkd.in/gsXZ4TJW #decisionmaking #financialadvice #scenariomapping                                   

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📖 TTF’S BOOK OF THE WEEK: “Corporate crime and punishment: The crisis of underenforcement" by John C. Coffee, JR Synopsis In the early 2000s, federal enforcement efforts sent white collar criminals at Enron and WorldCom to prison. But since the 2008 financial collapse, this famously hasn't happened. Corporations have been permitted to enter into deferred prosecution agreements and avoid criminal convictions, in part due to a mistaken assumption that leniency would encourage cooperation and because enforcement agencies don't have the funding or staff to pursue lengthy prosecutions, says distinguished Columbia Law Professor John C. Coffee. "We are moving from a system of justice for organizational crime that mixed carrots and sticks to one that is all carrots and no sticks," he says. He offers a series of bold proposals for ensuring that corporate malfeasance can once again be punished. For example, he describes incentives that could be offered to both corporate executives to turn in their corporations and to corporations to turn in their executives, allowing prosecutors to play them off against each other. Whistleblowers should be offered cash bounties to come forward because, Coffee writes, "it is easier and cheaper to buy information than seek to discover it in adversarial proceedings." All federal enforcement agencies should be able to hire outside counsel on a contingency fee basis, which would cost the public nothing and provide access to discovery and litigation expertise the agencies don't have. Through these and other equally controversial ideas, Coffee intends to rebalance the scales of justice. You can order the book on Amazon here:

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[Infographic] 4 Ways myTrack Delivers Value for the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Tax Credit Maximize your IRA Tax Credit benefits with myTrack! Discover how project identification, compliance tracking, workforce insights, and material credits can unlock $500 billion in spending and tax savings. Dive into the infographic now! https://lnkd.in/gGHbmCWs #IRATaxCredit #myTrack #TaxSavings

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Understand the IRS focus on crypto transactions and avoid potential audits. Keep your crypto dealings smooth and stress-free! 💼📈 * Navigate the world of cryptocurrency with confidence. * Learn why regulatory interest, mandatory reporting, and proper record-keeping are crucial. * Stay informed and compliant to enjoy peace of mind in your crypto journey! #CryptoTax #CryptoCompliance #IRS #TaxTips #CryptoTips #Cryptocurrency #CryptoRegulations #TaxSeason #CryptoInvesting #CryptoTrading #DigitalCurrency #CryptoAudit #CryptoNews #FinancialTips #TaxAdvice #Blockchain #CryptoTaxation #CryptoAssets #IRSCompliance #CryptoFinance #CryptoRecordKeeping #CryptoTransactions #CryptoProfits #CryptoGains #CryptoLosses #TaxPlanning #CryptoKnowledge #CryptoCommunity #StayCompliant #PeaceOfMind #profitsview

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