W. F.:\u00a0<\/strong>There are two categories: the junior lawyer lacking experience, and the one with no knowledge of criminal law. This highlights the importance of undergoing anti-money laundering training.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following the transposition of various European directives regarding money laundering\u2014which can be used to finance international terrorism\u2014lawyers now find themselves obligated to report certain clients. We interviewed William Feug\u00e8re, an attorney specializing in this field. William Feug\u00e8re, a lawyer at Campbell, Philippart, Laigo & Associ\u00e9s, a member of the Bar Council and the ACE (Association of Corporate Lawyers), is a specialist in anti-money laundering issues. Like many other members of the bar, he is concerned about the obligation imposed on lawyers to “report” potential money laundering operations to the authorities. This threatens the integrity of attorney-client privilege, even though this “suspicious activity report” does not apply to information gathered during legal consultations or activities related to judicial proceedings.<\/p>\n
What are your thoughts on the suspicious activity report?<\/p>\n
William Feugante: This obligation creates issues regarding attorney-client privilege. Frankly, you cannot advise someone if they cannot speak freely; they will no longer be able to place their full trust in us. This mandatory suspicious activity report has, in fact, been strongly contested by the profession.<\/p>\n
But what about the fight against money laundering, then?<\/p>\n
W. F.: We have prevention obligations: knowing our client, verifying their identity, gathering as much documentation as possible, identifying the ultimate beneficial owner of a transaction, the source of funds, the capital holder, etc. Our means of verification remain limited. We can check a company’s legal status in the Kbis, but there may also be nominees involved. We thought we could rely on banks, but bankers counter us with banking secrecy laws. We are also offered detection software that allows us to find individuals on blacklists. However, it is highly likely that for a dubious financial scheme, someone with a clean criminal record will be used. We have made money laundering an absolute offense, especially since it is no longer merely a consequence of another crime; it has become an autonomous offense. From now on, the perpetrator of the original crime can also be the perpetrator of the money laundering, which was not the case previously. It is a bit like the fence being the thief as well. Even though there are many prosecutions, it is not, however, a very frequently convicted offense\u2014only 126 times in 2006. We often mention it out of caution, at the very start of a case, for fear of overlooking it.<\/p>\n
What should a lawyer do if they have doubts about a client?<\/p>\n
W. F.: They must recuse themselves. Especially since they could be prosecuted for complicity in money laundering and face disciplinary sanctions.<\/p>\n
Which lawyers are most at risk?<\/p>\n
W. F.: Two categories: the young lawyer lacking experience, and the one who knows nothing about criminal law. This is why it is so important to undergo introductory training in anti-money laundering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1812950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[234,235],"tags":[318,319],"class_list":["post-1812949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-legislation","tag-blanchiment","tag-william-feugere"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newzyexecutive.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1812949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newzyexecutive.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newzyexecutive.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newzyexecutive.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newzyexecutive.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1812949"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.newzyexecutive.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1812949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1814174,"href":"https:\/\/www.newzyexecutive.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1812949\/revisions\/1814174"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newzyexecutive.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1812950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newzyexecutive.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1812949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newzyexecutive.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1812949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newzyexecutive.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1812949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}