On June 10, 2021, the US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania dismissed MoneyGram International’s money laundering charges with prejudice after the government confirmed that the company had met all of its obligations under its deferred prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice. MoneyGram had previously announced on May 6, 2021 that its DPA was nearing an end.
In 2012, MoneyGram entered a five-year DPA with the DOJ to resolve charges related to aiding and abetting wire fraud and willfully failing to implement and maintain an effective anti-money laundering program after federal investigators uncovered a wire fraud scheme used by corrupt company agents and others to trick vulnerable US customers into sending funds through MoneyGram’s money transfer system. Specifically, the DOJ charged that agents of MoneyGram had tricked elderly and other vulnerable US victims into sending funds though MoneyGram’s money transfer system by posing as victims’ relatives in need of money, falsely promising large cash prizes, and offering to sell items over the internet at deep discounts.
In 2017, at the end of five years, the DPA was extended by 30 months (until May 2021) after the DOJ discovered that additional fraudulent consumer transactions had occurred in 2015 and 2016 and that MoneyGram still had significant weaknesses in its AML and anti-fraud program. As part of its initial settlement and the settlement that extended the DPA, MoneyGram forfeited in total more than $225 million and retained, until May 2021, an independent monitor to oversee the company’s enhancements to its AML program.
Order | Government’s Unopposed Motion to Dismiss Information With Prejudice