Federal regulations targeting real estate transactions are on the way, and if real estate industry leaders would like to help shape them, they are going to need to weigh in … and soon. The proposed anti-money laundering (AML) rules are the product of greater scrutiny of the real estate industry by government agencies, including law enforcement, Congress, and international authorities. The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)—which receives financial transaction data to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and other financial crimes—plans to issue the proposed rules this spring. FinCEN administers the US AML regime under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), which, among other things, requires financial institutions to maintain AML programs, keep detailed records, and file reports with FinCEN. The proposed regulation would sweep the real estate industry, to one degree or another, into the BSA.
Draft rules—a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM)—are expected as early as next month. With a likely 60-day comment period, interested parties should prepare now to express any concerns they might have about potential unintended, burdensome, or disproportionate impacts of the proposed rule. FinCEN has already telegraphed the wide range of potential AML requirements that it is considering. Its Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM), published in December 2021, sought comments on, among other things, the people and types of transactions that should...
Dangote Group has dismissed as false and malicious a publication alleging that its President, Aliko Dangote, distanced himself from Tony Elumelu, describing the report as entirely baseless. In a s...