Brink’s Global Services to Pay $42 Million in Penalties for Violating Anti-Money Laundering Laws

Armored car company Brink’s Global Services has agreed to pay $42 million in penalties to settle allegations brought by federal regulators over violations of anti-money laundering (AML) provisions under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Thursday that it had entered into a non-prosecution agreement (NPA) with Brink’s, resolving claims that the company operated as an unlicensed money transmitting business over a two-year period. According to the DOJ, this settlement marks the first instance of an armored car company facing such an agreement for failing to register with the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

Under the terms of the settlement, Brink’s will pay $20 million to the DOJ and an additional $17 million to FinCEN. The DOJ will forgive approximately $5 million of the penalty due to Brink’s cooperation with the investigation and significant improvements in its compliance program. The remaining penalty may also be forgiven if Brink’s refrains from any further violations over the next two years.

“We are committed to continuous improvement and are always evolving our program to address changing compliance risks,” Brink’s said in a statement. The company estimated that it would pay a total of $42 million as part of the settlement.

According to FinCEN, Brink’s moved millions of dollars across the U.S.-Mexico border for “high-risk entities,” including a Mexican money changer who later pleaded guilty to violating the BSA. While the BSA does allow exemptions for money transmitters that transport physical cash under specific circumstances—such as moving funds for the same individual or between accounts owned by the same individual within the U.S.—Brink’s did not qualify for these exemptions. From 2018 to 2020, Brink’s transmitted hundreds of millions of dollars to multiple clients from the U.S. to Mexico, a practice that required the company to register as a money transmitting business with FinCEN.

Despite cooperating with the DOJ’s investigation, Brink’s initially refused to comply with the BSA, according to FinCEN. Investigators informed the company that it needed to register, but Brink’s argued that it “maintained ‘a comprehensive compliance program in place to monitor the discharge of its obligations under relevant laws and regulations’ in a conscious effort to ‘[limit] its services to performing the type of functions that would not require registration,’” FinCEN stated in its order.

The DOJ noted that Brink’s did not acknowledge the necessity of registering with FinCEN until the agency began its investigation in 2020. Because Brink’s failed to register as a money transmitter, it also neglected to establish a comprehensive AML program with adequate policies, procedures, and internal controls to mitigate money laundering risks. The company repeatedly failed to determine the source of funds it transmitted, including cash sent by a non-bank customer who regularly moved money to Mexico.

FinCEN also found that managers at Brink’s had raised internal concerns about potential money laundering risks in some of the cash transactions to Mexico. However, the company did not take action to halt these transactions until after one of its customers in Mexico was prosecuted for failing to register with FinCEN.

During a two-year span, Brink’s reportedly failed to file any suspicious activity reports (SARs) with FinCEN.

“FinCEN identified hundreds of suspicious transactions that Brink’s failed to report to FinCEN, although Brink’s failure to implement an AML program made it difficult to determine the full extent of the SARs that Brink’s failed to file,” FinCEN’s order stated.

In response to the investigation, Brink’s took steps to bolster its compliance program, which contributed to a reduction in its overall fine. The company hired additional personnel for its compliance department, including a deputy chief compliance officer and regional compliance directors. It also implemented new software and procedures to better track the sources of transmitted funds, along with new systems designed to block transactions involving entities previously flagged for compliance concerns.

With the settlement in place, Brink’s is expected to adhere to its revised compliance policies and avoid further violations to ensure the remaining portion of its penalty is forgiven.

By fLEXI tEAM