LAW 518 - Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism

This course concerns an area of law at the intersection of financial services, criminal law, and national security. Federal indictments routinely include one or more charges of “money laundering.” How does that happen? How can such a serious-sounding crime be so ubiquitous? How does the law deal with the threat this poses? This course will study the legal framework commonly known as anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism, or AML/CFT. It will focus on the historical development and current use of key sections of the U.S. Criminal Code, the Bank Secrecy Act, and related federal statutes and regulations. It will examine domestic legal challenges to those authorities. It will assess the international AML/CFT framework and its interaction with U.S. law. A final examination and class participation will determine the course grade.