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[1] (August 15, 2016)

handle is hein.crs/crsmthabghx0001 and id is 1 raw text is: CRS Reports & Analysis Legal Sidebar DOJ Brings Forfeiture Action to Seize and Return $1 Billion Embezzled Malaysian Government Assets 08/15/2016 On July 20, 2016, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had filed civil forfeiture actions in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California seeking to seize and return to the Malaysian government more than $1 billion worth of assets in the United States and abroad. These constitute or are derived from the proceeds of a conspiracy lasting from 2009 through 2015 embezzling $3.5 billion from the Malaysian government's sovereign wealth fund, IMalaysia Development Berhad, (1MDB). The complaints allege that high-level officials of 1MDB and their associates, including Riza Aziz, the stepson of the premier of Malaysia, Najib Razak, embezzled 1MDB funds, placed them in various financial institutions in several countries, and through multiple shell companies and investment vehicles acquired specified assets in the United States, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. It is further alleged that these assets are subject to forfeiture under the civil forfeiture statute, 18 UT S C. 981§ (a)(1 ). That statute authorizes the forfeiture of the proceeds of money laundering offenses specified in 18 -UJS.C § 1956 and 1957. These statutes outlaw laundering of proceeds generated by designated federal, state, and foreign underlying crimes (predicate offenses) provided there has been an involvement of certain financial transactions or international wire transfers. The effort to recover assets for Malaysia relies on one of these predicate offenses, 18 U.S.C. § 1956(c)(7)(B)(iv), an offense against a foreign nation involving ... theft, embezzlement, or misappropriation of public funds, provided it is with respect to a financial transaction occurring in whole or in part in the United States. The case is part of an in rninal eff rt to fight foreign corruption embodied in the ni ion nvention Aga int rrion, of which the United States is a state party. Foreign corruption offenses have been predicate offenses for federal money laundering prosecutions since the 2001 enactment of section 315 of the USA PATRIOT Act, P L 107-56. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is the agency charged with issuing regulations to implement the Bank Secrecy Ac.s anti-monev laundering requiremenTs frfi Since 2001, FinCEN has included in its requirements for financial institutions to file Suspicious Actiyity Repors (SAs) instructions on monitoring transactions for red flags that may indicate foreign corruption. FinCEN's regulations also include due diligence requirements with respect to private banking relationships for senior foreign poli1ical filgurs. In 2001, FinCEN issued Guidance on Enhanced Scrtiny for Transactios That May Involve the Proceeds of Foreign Official IWIk n. In 2008, FinCEN issued e rgn The value of the assets sought in this case is larger than any case previously brought. This is the result of work by DOJ's Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative (Initiative), a unit established in 2010 in the DOJ Criminal Division's Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section. The Initiative includes teams of prosecutors partnering with federal law enforcement agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Department of Homeland Security. These teams focus on recovering and restoring funds to nations victimized by high level officials who have diverted national wealth to their personal use. These efforts resulted in the November 2015 return of over $1 billion in forfeited assets to the Republic of North Korea recovered in two civil forfeiture actions related to a-public cor ion cheme orchesratdb forme rKorea nPresident Chu nDo Hw nin the 1990's landere tthe nite tte Chn' fmilym m r an s iate Among the assets that DOJ is seeking for Malaysia are real estate in Los Angeles, New York City, and London, U.K.; a

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