Prudent Advisory Service

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued a  circular  today to urge licensed corporations and virtual asset trading platforms (collectively known as “licensed firms”) to stay vigilant against suspicious fund flows showing signs of layering activities in money laundering. In the circular, the SFC highlights a rising trend in which bad actors exploit licensed firms for layering activities, with some attempting to launder illicit proceeds from deception and scam cases, by obscuring the...

A money service operator license holder was convicted by the Eastern Magistrates' Courts on November 4 for failing to comply with customer due diligence and record-keeping requirements, and providing false or misleading documents to Customs officers under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (Ordinance). The company was fined a total of $328,000, the highest fine on record among similar cases.      During a compliance inspection in March last year, Customs...

The Immigration Department (ImmD) mounted a series of territory-wide anti-illegal worker operations codenamed "Blockade" and "Twilight", a joint operation with the Labour Department codenamed "Rainbow" and joint operations with the Hong Kong Police Force codenamed "Champion" from November 14 to yesterday (November 20). A total of 33 suspected illegal workers, 10 suspected employers and two overstayers were arrested.      During operation "Blockade", ImmD investigators discovered that foreign...