The US Department of Justice has announced the resolution of pending investigations and litigation involving the Bank of San Juan Internacional, Inc. (BSJI). In February 2019, US authorities seized over $53 million from BSJI, and subsequently obtained a civil forfeiture order for those funds, based on their connection to sophisticated financial transactions potentially involving non-compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act. The DOJ indicated that after reviewing the information provided by BSJI during the DOJ investigation, it had decided to dismiss the civil forfeiture action, return the seized funds, and close the investigation of BSJI transactions. BSJI has agreed to pay $1 million to resolve the investigation.
The DOJ stated that in reaching this determination it had taken into consideration the corrective actions taken by BSJI to improve its BSA and anti-money laundering policies and procedures, including compliance with the requirement to file SARs.