Western Union, the global money transfer business based in the US state of Colorado, has agreed to forfeitures worth $586m after admitting violating US anti-money laundering laws relating to illegal money transfers connected to a range of activities, including online gaming and human trafficking.

Western Union to forfeit $586m following illegal cash probe

The Financial Times reports that, according to the US Department of Justice, from 2004 to 2012, Western Union “processed hundreds of thousands of transactions” connected to international fraud schemes.

Western Union admitted to the violations including “failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering programme” and “aiding and abetting wire fraud.”

“Various Western Union agents were complicit in these fraud schemes, often processing the fraud payments for the fraudsters in return for a cut of the fraud proceeds,” the DoJ said.

Source: Financial Times