FinCEN imposes a historic $80M penalty on Canaccord Genuity LLC for willfully failing to implement AML controls, conduct proper due diligence, and report suspicious securities transactions

FinCEN finds that the broker-dealer failed to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering programme, conduct adequate customer due diligence and implement appropriate transaction monitoring, which allowed suspicious trading linked to potential fraud schemes to go undetected. The firm also failed to file at least 160 suspicious activity reports tied to thousands of questionable transactions in over-the-counter securities, depriving law enforcement of critical financial-intelligence…