Archive:June 5, 2017

1
Silk Road website founder loses appeal of conviction and life sentence
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ASIC proposes next steps on RegTech
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Financial Action Task Force FinTech and RegTech Forum

Silk Road website founder loses appeal of conviction and life sentence

By Nicole C. Mueller and Clifford C. Histed

On May 31, 2017 the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit unanimously affirmed the conviction and life imprisonment of Ross Ulbricht for drug trafficking and crimes associated with his creation and operation of the online marketplace known as Silk Road.  Among others challenges, Ulbricht argued on appeal that he should have been allowed to introduce evidence regarding former government agents who pled guilty to stealing Bitcoins as they investigated Silk Road and Ulbricht.  The Second Circuit disagreed, finding that while “the shocking personal corruption of these two government agents disgraced the agencies for which they worked,” it had nothing to do with whether Ulbricht operated Silk Road.  The Second Circuit similarly found Ulbricht’s other arguments unavailing, namely that (1) the government’s violated his Fourth Amendment rights through the use of pen registers and trap and trace devices to monitor IP addresses associated with internet traffic to and from Ulbricht’s wireless home router, and the search and seizure of his laptop and Facebook, Google accounts; (2) he was denied a fair trial due to the preclusion of certain testimony and evidence; and (3) it was improper for the court to consider six drug-related deaths relevant to his sentencing.

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ASIC proposes next steps on RegTech

By Jim Bulling and Michelle Chasser

ASIC is ramping up its focus on regulatory technology (RegTech).

On Friday 26 May 2017, ASIC released its Report 523 titled “ASIC’s Innovation Hub and our approach to regulatory technology”. This report gives an update on the work of ASIC’s Innovation Hub and outlines ASIC’s current and proposed future approach to RegTech.

The report defines RegTech as the use of new technologies to solve regulatory and compliance requirements more effectively and efficiently. These technologies could include use of artificial intelligence, natural language processing, data reporting, regulatory codification and big data analysis technologies.

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Financial Action Task Force FinTech and RegTech Forum

By Jonathan Lawrence

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has published a summary of its FinTech and RegTech Forum, which was held on 25 and 26 May 2017 in San Jose, California. The FATF is an intergovernmental organisation founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering. At the forum over 150 representatives discussed significant trends and developments in FinTech and RegTech and shared their experiences in adapting their practices to continue to identify and mitigate the different money laundering (ML) / terrorism financing (TF) risks brought about by these developments.

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