In the last couple of decades, the world has experienced growing prosecutions of intermediaries for cross-border financial crimes. A U.S. bank was convicted by a Spanish court for moving money in the Pinochet criminal investigation instead of freezing it. The U.S. and State of New York have brought criminal cases against banks for a variety of financial crimes, especially economic sanctions. The U.S. DOJ has had an Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program for Swiss Banks. The UK Criminal Finance Act of 2017 makes foreign enablers liable for failing to prevent UK tax evasion. The OECD requires tax authorities enforcing the Common Reporting Standard to make intermediaries liable for circumventing the rules. An EU directive requires reporting of aggressive offshore cross-border tax schemes. Increasingly, law enforcement agencies, whether anti-trust, tax, and/or securities enforcement, are entering into new formal and informal enforcement cooperation agreements. Governments and courts increasingly make the liability of entities and executives dependent on prevention and post-conviction monitorships. International organizations and informal groups, such as FATF, the G20, the G7, and the FSF continue to promulgate new due diligence and enforcement requirements for governments.Please join Bruce Zagaris, Esq., Berliner Corcoran & Rowe LLP, adjunct professor, Texas A&M Law Faculty, author of INTERNATIONAL WHITE COLLAR CRIME: CASES AND MATERIALS (Cambridge U. Press, 2d ed., 2015 ), and editor of the International Enforcement Law Reporter (www.ielr.com) for a discussion of the increasing criminal and enforcement risks of intermediaries, including financial institutions and lawyers, for cross-border crimes.The program will discuss:New tax transparency, entity transparency, reporting, and gatekeeper initiativesPrioritization of corporate/entity liabilityIncreased prosecution of intermediaries for tax, anti-corruption, and money laundering violationsIncreased use of asset forfeitureGrowing criminalization and convergence of tax, money laundering, anti-corruption, and other financial crimesIncreased importance of NGOs, whistleblowers, and the mediaDue diligence against enhanced threats of liabilityLearning ObjectivesLearn the international trends to hold intermediaries liable criminally and civillyLearn what is the extraterritorial nature of many of the national lawsHow are international organizations and informal transnational government networks making laws and requiring governments and the private sector to respondResponses (e.g., improved due diligence by professional associations and firms) required by intermediariesWho Should AttendCompliance officials for financial institutions and related entitiesProfessionals involved in wealth planning and managementRegulatory and enforcement officialsAcademicians involved in international white collar crime law; international law; criminal law; international relations; and criminal justiceCivil servants in international organizationsLawyers, accountants and other professionals involved in cross-border businessTopic BackgroundSee the course summary above. In addition, examples of topic developments are: FinCEN Advisories on human rights abuses by corrupt senior political figures; joint settlements by the U.S. and other governments on convictions of Siemens, Odebrecht; joint enforcement cooperation agreements between Brazil and other countries on Odebrecht; the formation by the U.S. and 4 Tax Authorities of the Joint Chiefs of Tax Enforcement (J5); the issuance by the OECD of a document to prevent abuse of Residence and Citizenship by Investment Schemes to Circumvent the CRS; the indictment by the Special Counsel of Agents (Manafort and Gates) for misleading statements on Foreign Agent Registration Act; several Swiss banks and professionals have been convicted for conspiring to help U.S. taxpayers commit tax and related crimes; over 80 Swiss banks participated in the DOJ’s Offshore Voluntary Program for Swiss banks.