MoneyGram Pays $125Mln to Defer Prosecution for Money Laundering - DoJ

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - MoneyGram, a service widely used by US immigrants to send remittances to relatives overseas, has agreed to pay $125 million to delay prosecution on charges of money laundering and fraud, the US Department of Justice said in a press release.

"MoneyGram International Inc. (MoneyGram), a global money services business headquartered in Dallas, Texas, has agreed to extend its deferred prosecution agreement and forfeit $125 million due to significant weaknesses in MoneyGram’s anti-fraud and anti-money laundering (AML) program resulting in MoneyGram’s breach of its 2012 deferred prosecution agreement (DPA)," the release said on Thursday.

The Justice Department explained that in addition to the monetary payment and extension of the deferred prosecution agreement, MoneyGram must also enhance its anti-fraud and anti-money laundering compliance programs.

A two-count felony criminal complaint filed on November 9, 2012, charged MoneyGram with failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program and aiding and abetting wire fraud, the release notedd.

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According to motion filed on Thursday to extend and amend the deferred prosecution agreement, MoneyGram breached the 2012 agreement by processing at least $125 million in additional consumer fraud transactions between April 2015 and October 2016, the release noted.

An amendment to the agreement will extend the term of the DPA for 30 months, according to the release.

MoneyGram and Western Union are the two leading money transfer services used by immigrants in the United States and other countries to send remittances to relatives in their home countries.

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