U.S. Treasury Designates 3rd Party Payment Processor a Transnational Criminal Organization

           On September 22, 2016, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated the PacNet Group (“PacNet”) as a significant transnational criminal organization (TCO) pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13581, “Blocking Property of Transnational Criminal Organizations.”  OFAC alleged that PacNet, an international payments processor and money services business, had a lengthy history of money laundering by knowingly processing payments on behalf of a wide range of mail fraud schemes that target victims in the United States and throughout the world.  Also on September 22, U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch held a press conference announcing law enforcement actions against PacNet and against mail fraud.  She was joined by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Ben Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division; U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Robert Capers; Acting Director of the Treasury Department’s OFAC John Smith; Chief Postal Inspector Guy Cottrell; and Lois Greisman, Associate Director of the Division of Marketing Practices at the Federal Trade Commission.