May 13, 2016
A federal grand jury has indicted Daniel Barrs for failing to follow anti-money laundering requirements for his role running an Atlanta money transmitting business that processed hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of financial transactions for entities located around the world.
According to U.S. Attorney John Horn, the indictment, and other information presented in court: Daniel Barrs, of the United Kingdom, ran a money transmitting business located in metro Atlanta named “Global Transaction Services” (GTS), along with several interrelated entities that transmitted hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of wires on behalf of customers located around the world, many of whom Barrs knew were not able to obtain access to U.S. banking on their own and were sending or receiving wires from countries that posed money laundering concerns. GTS was marketed as a company that could minimize the costs associated with transactions from entities located in one country and customers in other countries.
The Bank Secrecy Act requires money transmitters like GTS to guard against money laundering and illegal activity by developing, implementing, and maintaining an effective anti-money laundering program. Money transmitters that identify certain types of suspicious financial transactions are also typically required to file a “Suspicious Activity Report” (SAR) with the U.S. Department of Treasury, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.