FinCEN proposes bar on Cambodian company due to alleged money laundering

A Cambodian financial company, the Huione Group (HG), has laundered billions of dollars for international criminals and those linked to North Korea, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The agency proposes that the company should be severed from having access to the U.S. financial system.

Under FinCEN’s proposal, U.S. banks would be barred from opening or maintaining correspondent accounts for HG. Correspondent accounts are accounts opened by one financial institution to facilitate transactions, like currency exchanges and payment processing, for another financial institution.

This “Special Measure Five” by FinCEN, whose mission is to combat crime that may touch U.S. financial institutions, is the toughest of the five enforcement tools it has available.