The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that a Miami-based brokerage firm agreed to pay a $1 million penalty to settle charges that it violated anti-money laundering rules by allowing foreign entities to buy and sell securities without verifying the identities of the non-U.S. citizens who beneficially owned them.
During SEC examinations of E.S. Financial Services, which is now named Brickell Global Markets, the firm twice failed to provide required books and records identifying certain foreign customers whom they were soliciting directly and providing investment advice. Federal law requires all financial institutions to maintain an adequate customer identification program (CIP) to ensure financial institutions know their customers and do not become a conduit for money laundering or terrorist financing. An ensuing SEC investigation found that E.S. Financial’s CIP failed to obtain and maintain documentation to verify the identities of certain non-U.S. customers who traded through a brokerage account opened by a Central American bank affiliated with the firm.
Source: Securities and exchange commission
The post Miami Firm Broke Anti-Money Laundering Protocols appeared first on Compliancex.