Author: Brian Sanchez

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Sunday, October 16, 2016

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Back in the days when I did a startup I almost de-railed our VC funding after discovering my passport had expired. Without it I couldn’t pass the anti-money laundering checks imposed on the fancy and overpriced London law firm we’d hired. Then we almost failed to open a bank account so we could actually receive the money because we were unable to fly over all of our investors from Eastern and Central Europe to pass ID checks in person. The takeaway: compliance is a pain in the ass.

Enter ComplyAdvantage, a London-based startup that claims to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to help firms manage compliance obligations and at reduced cost. The young company is announcing $8.2 million in Series A funding led by Balderton Capital, money it plans to plough into growth across Europe and the U.S., including opening a New York office this week.

Founded by Charles Delingpole, who previously founded Market Invoice, ComplyAdvantage originally launched to help a small number of businesses meet complex anti-money laundering (AML) and counter financing of terrorism (CFT) requirements. It has since developed its product to also cover things like Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) lists and other risk and compliance areas that are hard to scale.

“The way organisations screen and monitor their customer relationships to comply with sanctions regulations and prevent money laundering and terrorist financing risk is fundamentally broken,” ComplyAdvantage VP of Sales & Marketing Stephen Ball tells me over email. “ComplyAdvantage is here to help compliance and risk professionals fix it”.

“Legacy technologies are outdated, expensive and inefficient, typically generating large amounts of manual work in the form of unnecessary risk alerts for the team to review,” he adds, citing as an example a customer having the same name as a completely different Politically Exposed Person. “Furthermore, the criminals are winning, with existing solutions having limited impact on actually reducing financial crime”.

That, argues Ball, has left compliance officers jaded. Originally attracted to the role of fighting crime, they find themselves often doing a box-ticking exercise that is ineffective but designed to keep the companies they work for on the right side of the regulators, even if that often fails too. Meanwhile, regulator fines are kind of expected and baked into the pricing models of financial services.

To fix this, ComplyAdvantage is betting that AI and machine learning can help compliance scale properly and says the startup is part of a “regtech revolution” that is coming to financial services. “ComplyAdvantage are at the forefront unleashing the power of AI and ML to change the way compliance is done,” says the VP of Sales & Marketing.

Adds Tim Bunting, General Partner at Balderton Capital, in a statement: “We believe that this is one of the few remaining large industries that is still ripe for digital disruption. We are thrilled to be backing Charles and his team, they are well on their way to changing the way companies can understand and monitor risk around their clients. Their mission is truly exciting, and relevant to all businesses.”

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A Service For Professionals
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Sunday, October 16, 2016

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(ANSAmed) – ROME, OCTOBER 13 – The Italian law firm NCTM is
the only Italian law firm to appear on the 2016 Financial Times’
list of Most Innovative Law Firms, in the category of Innovation
in General Legal Expertise.

The Financial Times said the firm is among those that “have
shown some of the most creative thinking across Europe over the
past year”, and gave the firm the award “highly commended”.

“Partner Bernard O’Connor is a top 10 individual in the FT
report this year for his work in defending the rights of Turkish
Cypriots to produce Hellim cheese,” the Financial Times said.

The firm – recognised as one of the most important
independent Italian law firms both for size and for number and
importance of its operations – has more than 250 professionals
and 57 partners in its five offices in Italy and abroad (Milan,
Rome, Brussels, London and Shanghai).
O’Connor is a partner in the firm’s Brussels office.

The application that Greek-Cypriot producers submitted to the
European Commission for the recognition of Halloumi cheese under
protected designation of origin status initially didn’t include
the same pasteurised cheese called Hellim made by
Turkish-Cypriot producers in the northern part of the island.

Northern Cyprus isn’t recognised as part of the European
Union; however, O’Connor’s legal action ensured that
Turkish-Cypriot producers are also recognised under the
application for the EU’s protected designation of origin
status.(ANSAmed).

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A Service For Professionals
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Friday, October 14, 2016

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The Panamanian foundation was set up in August 2004 as Stellar International Foundation and renamed Stellar International Art Foundation in February 2008. (Photo for representational purpose)

London-based arms agent Sudhir Choudhrie and his family members are beneficiaries of a Panamanian foundation set up in 2004. Records of Mossack Fonseca — the law firm whose data was mined for the Panama Papers investigation — show that Choudhrie’s elder son Bhanu is director in two British Virgin Islands (BVI) companies since 2002. He is also named as director and shareholder of two Seychelles companies formed in 2007.

In 2006, Sudhir Choudhrie shifted base from Delhi to London after his name figured in CBI probes into the contract to upgrade 130-mm field guns and the Barak missile deal. In 2002, Bhanu Choudhrie set up C&C Alpha Group, a family-owned private equity firm, in UK. Subsequently, both Sudhir and Bhanu became UK citizens.

According to MF records, Bhanu Choudhrie and his younger brother Dhairya are equal beneficiaries of Stellar International Art Foundation (Panama). In their absence, their respective families — wife and children — and parents Sudhir and Anita Choudhrie are named as equal beneficiaries, failing which the assets would go to Path2Success, the Choudhrie family charity in UK.

The Panamanian foundation was set up in August 2004 as Stellar International Foundation and renamed Stellar International Art Foundation in February 2008.

To help the foundation open a bank account in 2014, MF’s Geneva office conducted an investigation at the Panamanian courts as the foundation’s resident agent and certified that there was no move to wind it up.

According to media releases, Stellar International Art Foundation owns over 600 rare works of renowned artists including M F Husain, Paresh Maity, Anish Kapoor, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Andy Warhol.

In December 2002, MF records show, Bhanu Choudhrie became director of Noversa Limited and Anterna Limited, two companies incorporated in BVI in October 2002. He was also appointed director in Cottage Consultants Limited on January 5, 2007, the day the company was incorporated in Seychelles, and held shares of Carter Consultants Inc, another Seychelles company set up in January 2007.

Noversa Limited was renamed Belinea Services Ltd in April 2007 and Dubai-based businessman Aman Chopra joined Bhanu in the board of directors in May 2010. Hollister Consulting Inc, a company registered in Seychelles in August 2008, is the sole shareholder of Belinea Services. In 2009, Aman Chopra held the shares of Hollister Consulting Inc.

Sumant Kapur, executive director of C&C Alpha Group, was appointed director of Anterna Limited in October 2006. Kapur was replaced by Aman Chopra in May 2010 but internal documents of MF recorded Sumant Kapur as the holder of the company’s bearer shares in 2011. Sumant Kapur is the son of Sudhir Choudhrie’s uncle B K Kapur, who retired as chairman of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), a public sector undertaking.

In 2010, Aman Chopra and wife Ayesha hosted M F Husain and his limited edition imprint exhibition at Dubai’s Capital Club.

Chopra, show MF records, was also director and shareholder of four Seychelles companies — Caprol SA, Cottage Consultants Ltd, Frith Properties Ltd and Prototype Services Inc. While Prototype Services and Cottage Consultants were set up in January 2007, Caprol and Frith Properties came up in August 2008. All four companies were struck off on December 31, 2012.

Multiple emails and phone calls to Sudhir and Bhanu Choudhrie did not elicit any response. Aman Chopra refused to comment.

In 2011, after the CBI gave a “clean chit’’ to Sudhir Choudhrie in the Rs 208-crore deal between Israeli firm Soltam and the Ministry of Defence, the Enforcement Directorate commenced a probe into financial transactions of the deal but did not find any evidence of FEMA violation. The CBI closed the case in the Barak missile deal in 2013.

In 2014, both Sudhir and Bhanu Choudhrie were arrested as part of a Serious Fraud Office probe in London for allegedly helping Rolls-Royce pay bribe to secure contracts in China and Indonesia but the case against them was subsequently dropped.

The Ministry of Defence also ordered a CBI inquiry into the purchase of aero engines by HAL from Rolls-Royce. In 2015, Choudhries’ C&C Alpha Group sold its hospital chain Alpha Hospitals to Cygnet Health Care for about Rs 970 crore as part of a move to focus on India where Bhanu Choudhrie is emerging as a major player in the health care and hospitality sectors.

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regional peers@ (Changes “his” to “her” in para 4)

* Serbian central bank seen holding fire, dinar firms

* Stocks, currencies ease as Chinese data ups risk aversion

* Hungary’s bond auction seen drawing good demand-trader

* Czech 2-year bond yield dips below Bund equivalent

BUDAPEST, Oct 13 (Reuters) – The dinar firmed slightly on Thursday ahead of a meeting of the Serbian central bank, bucking a regional downtrend after China’s release of weak trade figures depressed investors’ risk appetite. The dinar firmed 0.1 percent to 123.05 with Serbia’s central bank now widely expected to keep its 4-percent benchmark rate on hold. On Wednesday it purchased euros in the market to cap dinar gains. The forint fell the most, losing 0.3 percent against the euro by 0812 GMT, while the leu edged towards 3-month lows, easing 0.1 percent to 4.5035 on worries about a draft law on the conversion of Swiss franc mortgages. Poland’s Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said that a similar bill would not hit banks’ revenues, but her comments failed to buoy bank stocks and Warsaw’s bluechip index led a fall in the region, shedding 1.1 percent. Government bond prices mostly firmed alongside euro zone peers, with Hungarian bond yields dropping one basis point ahead of an auction due later in the day. Czech 2-year bond yields traded near record lows, dropping 9 basis points to -0.75 percent, below corresponding Bund yields, with the crown stuck at the central bank’s cap of 27 against euro. Central bank governor Jiri Rusnok reaffirmed a “hard commitment” late on Wednesday that it will not drop the floor on its crown range before the second quarter of 2017. The bank has bought billions of euros in the last few months to cap the crown’s value. “Flow into the crown looks strong and constant at the moment,” one dealer said.

CEE SNAP AT 1012

MARKETS SHOT CET CURRENCIES Late Prev Dail Chan

st ious y ge bid clos chan in e ge 2016 Czech <EURCZK 27.0 27.0 +0. -0.0 crown => 210 260 02% 9% Hungary <EURHUF 306. 305. -0.3 2.68 forint => 4400 5300 0% % Polish <EURPLN 4.30 4.30 +0. -1.0 zloty => 50 50 00% 9%

Romanian <EURRON 4.50 4.50 -0.0 0.34

leu => 35 01 8% %

Croatian <EURHRK 7.51 7.50 -0.0 1.72

kuna => 00 81 3% % Serbian <EURRSD 123. 123. +0. -1.2 dinar => 0300 1300 08% 7% Note: calcula prev clos 1800 daily ted ious e at CET change from

STOC KS Late Prev Dail Chan

st ious y ge

clos chan in

e ge 2016 Prague 886. 890. -0.4 -7.2 97 74 2% 5% Budapest 2831 2839 -0.3 +18 0.06 6.87 1% .35% Warsaw <.WIG20 1741 1760 -1.0 -6.3 > .46 .43 8% 3% Buchares 6899 6919 -0.2 -1.4 t .69 .39 8% 9% Ljubljan <.SBITO 725. 727. -0.3 +4. a P> 14 62 4% 16% Zagreb <.CRBEX 1991 1990 +0. +17 > .16 .88 01% .85% Belgrade <.BELEX 637. 634. +0. -1.0 15> 64 86 44% 0% Sofia <.SOFIX 510. 509. +0. +10 > 62 24 27% .79%

BOND S Yiel Yiel Spre Dail

d d ad y (bid chan vs chan ) ge Bund ge

in

Czech spre Republic ad 2-year <CZ2YT= -0.6 0.00 +00 +1b RR> 59 3 0bps ps 5-year <CZ5YT= -0.1 -0.0 +03 +0b RR> 34 15 5bps ps <CZ10YT 0.32 -0.0 +02 +0b 10-year =RR> 8 16 8bps ps

Poland

2-year <PL2YT= 1.77 -0.0 +24 +1b RR> 2 03 3bps ps 5-year <PL5YT= 2.45 -0.0 +29 +0b RR> 2 17 4bps ps <PL10YT 3.04 -0.0 +30 +1b 10-year =RR> 5 06 0bps ps

FORWARD RATE AGREEMENT

3×6 6×9 9×12 3M

inte rban k

Czech <CZKFRA 0.28 0.25 0.22 0 Rep ><PRIBO

R=>

Hungary HUFFRA 0.78 0.76 0.77 0.87 ><BUBOR

=>

Poland <PLNFRA 1.73 1.73 1.73 1.72 ><WIBOR 75 75 5

=>

Note: are for FRA ask quotes prices ***************************************** *********************

(Additional reporting by Jason Hovet and Robert Muller in Prague; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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* Serbian central bank seen holding fire, dinar firms

* Stocks, currencies ease as Chinese data ups risk aversion

* Hungary’s bond auction seen drawing good demand-trader

* Czech 2-year bond yield dips below Bund equivalent

BUDAPEST, Oct 13 (Reuters) – The dinar firmed slightly on Thursday ahead of a meeting of the Serbian central bank, bucking a regional downtrend after China’s release of weak trade figures depressed investors’ risk appetite. The dinar firmed 0.1 percent to 123.05 with Serbia’s central bank now widely expected to keep its 4-percent benchmark rate on hold. On Wednesday it purchased euros in the market to cap dinar gains. The forint fell the most, losing 0.3 percent against the euro by 0812 GMT, while the leu edged towards 3-month lows, easing 0.1 percent to 4.5035 on worries about a draft law on the conversion of Swiss franc mortgages. Poland’s Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said that a similar bill would not hit banks’ revenues, but his comments failed to buoy bank stocks and Warsaw’s bluechip index led a fall in the region, shedding 1.1 percent. Government bond prices mostly firmed alongside euro zone peers, with Hungarian bond yields dropping one basis point ahead of an auction due later in the day. Czech 2-year bond yields traded near record lows, dropping 9 basis points to -0.75 percent, below corresponding Bund yields, with the crown stuck at the central bank’s cap of 27 against euro. Central bank governor Jiri Rusnok reaffirmed a “hard commitment” late on Wednesday that it will not drop the floor on its crown range before the second quarter of 2017. The bank has bought billions of euros in the last few months to cap the crown’s value. “Flow into the crown looks strong and constant at the moment,” one dealer said.

CEE SNAP AT 1012

MARKETS SHOT CET CURRENCIES Late Prev Dail Chan

st ious y ge bid clos chan in e ge 2016 Czech <EURCZK 27.0 27.0 +0. -0.0 crown => 210 260 02% 9% Hungary <EURHUF 306. 305. -0.3 2.68 forint => 4400 5300 0% % Polish <EURPLN 4.30 4.30 +0. -1.0 zloty => 50 50 00% 9%

Romanian <EURRON 4.50 4.50 -0.0 0.34

leu => 35 01 8% %

Croatian <EURHRK 7.51 7.50 -0.0 1.72

kuna => 00 81 3% % Serbian <EURRSD 123. 123. +0. -1.2 dinar => 0300 1300 08% 7% Note: calcula prev clos 1800 daily ted ious e at CET change from

STOC KS Late Prev Dail Chan

st ious y ge

clos chan in

e ge 2016 Prague 886. 890. -0.4 -7.2 97 74 2% 5% Budapest 2831 2839 -0.3 +18 0.06 6.87 1% .35% Warsaw <.WIG20 1741 1760 -1.0 -6.3 > .46 .43 8% 3% Buchares 6899 6919 -0.2 -1.4 t .69 .39 8% 9% Ljubljan <.SBITO 725. 727. -0.3 +4. a P> 14 62 4% 16% Zagreb <.CRBEX 1991 1990 +0. +17 > .16 .88 01% .85% Belgrade <.BELEX 637. 634. +0. -1.0 15> 64 86 44% 0% Sofia <.SOFIX 510. 509. +0. +10 > 62 24 27% .79%

BOND S Yiel Yiel Spre Dail

d d ad y (bid chan vs chan ) ge Bund ge

in

Czech spre Republic ad 2-year <CZ2YT= -0.6 0.00 +00 +1b RR> 59 3 0bps ps 5-year <CZ5YT= -0.1 -0.0 +03 +0b RR> 34 15 5bps ps <CZ10YT 0.32 -0.0 +02 +0b 10-year =RR> 8 16 8bps ps

Poland

2-year PL2YT= 1.77 -0.0 +24 +1b RR> 2 03 3bps ps 5-year <PL5YT= 2.45 -0.0 +29 +0b RR> 2 17 4bps ps <PL10YT 3.04 -0.0 +30 +1b 10-year =RR> 5 06 0bps ps

FORWARD RATE AGREEMENT

3×6 6×9 9×12 3M

inte rban k

Czech <CZKFRA 0.28 0.25 0.22 0 Rep ><PRIBO

R=>

Hungary <HUFFRA 0.78 0.76 0.77 0.87 ><BUBOR

=>

Poland <PLNFRA 1.73 1.73 1.73 1.72 ><WIBOR 75 75 5

=>

Note: are for FRA ask quotes prices ***************************************** *********************

(Additional reporting by Jason Hovet and Robert Muller in Prague; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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YORBA LINDA, Calif. — Two California medical companies have been accused in a lawsuit of illegally profiting from the sale of fetal tissue.

The lawsuit filed late Tuesday by the Orange County district attorney’s office said DaVinci Biosciences and its sister company, DV Biologics, collected tens of thousands of dollars in revenue by selling fetal tissue and stem cells donated from abortion providers to research groups around the world.

It’s illegal to profit from the sale of fetal parts, but an organization providing the tissue can charge a fee to recover its expenses.

The lawsuit said the companies profited from at least 500 sales between 2012 and 2015, selling products for more than what it costs to process, handle and ship them, The Orange County Register reported.

DaVinci Biosciences researches potential treatments for degenerative diseases. DV Biologics supplies human tissue to research groups.

A lawyer for the companies said they followed the rules.

“DaVinci complied with these regulations and never turned a profit,” lawyer Michael Tein said in a statement. “Shipments of research materials were made only to other medical scientists at fully accredited universities and laboratories. “

The issue of fetal tissue sale received widespread attention last year after secretly recorded tapes showed Planned Parenthood officials talking about the tissue they sometimes provide to researchers.

Planned Parenthood has said it has broken no laws, and investigations by several states and congressional panels have not produced evidence that it acted illegally.

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said the lawsuit was not about the ethics of fetal tissue research.

“This is not about politics,” Rackauckas told the Register. “This is about a clear violation of the law.”

The companies previously had a contract with Planned Parenthood, but Planned Parenthood was found not to be selling fetal tissue and is not part of the investigation, said Deputy District Attorney Kelly Ernby.

Prosecutors are seeking a $1.6 million fine and an injunction preventing future sales at a profit.

A Section on 10/13/2016

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More than three decades after its passage, a modest New Jersey consumer-protection law has become an Internet scourge, at least in the eyes of some companies.

Passed in 1981 to ensure businesses did not mislead customers about their rights, the Truth in Consumer Contract, Warranty, and Notice Act helped eliminate confusing language in sales offers, store notices, and product liability statements. And then it sat quietly, a seldom-noticed piece of the state’s legal furniture.

But when the New Jersey Civil Justice Institute and the Morris County Chamber of Commerce held a forum with prominent lawyers Tuesday on the “unintended consequences” of legislation, TCCWNA trumped other topics.

New Jersey civil courts are being hit with suits from around the country using TCCWNA to challenge the terms and conditions listed on some commercial websites. Big corporations, including Wal-Mart, Hertz, and Bed Bath & Beyond, have been hit with class-action suits charging they violated the little-known New Jersey statute.

“There has been a literal blizzard of demand letters that have gone out to businesses across the country,” said Edward Fanning, chair of the product liability group at McCarter & English.

The letters are warnings from plaintiffs’ attorneys, contending the terms and conditions of sales, discounts, memberships, and other offers made via websites could violate TCCWNA.

Although the law’s penalties are slight — $100, actual damages, or both — they apply to each infraction, Fanning noted. That makes it a potentially devastating tool against the owners of heavily trafficked websites, he said.

The demand letters warn “hundreds of thousands or even millions of people may have been exposed” to multiple confusing terms, even if they were just casually browsing a website rather than shopping, Fanning said.

Another key provision of the New Jersey statute is that it applies not just to customers who bought a lamp or joined a club but to any “prospective consumer.” The penalties must be paid to any “aggrieved consumer,” not only those who completed transactions.

“What’s amazing about the statute is that so much of it is undefined,” said Zane Riester, another McCarter & English lawyer. “An ‘aggrieved consumer,’ there’s very little case law on what that means … and you really can’t have an aggrieved prospective consumer,” he said. “I do think there has to be some level of harm.”

But some lawyers say that while the Legislature may not have anticipated the rise of e-commerce, it spelled out its intentions when approving the law.

“The act is very clear that the (misleading) writing can be contained in a mere offer,” said Joseph DePalma, co-founder and managing member of Lite DePalma Greenberg. “So you don’t have to enter into a contract.”

With major decisions pending in both state and federal courts, where the big class-action suits were filed, defense attorneys and their business clients should not be overly confident about the outcomes, said Jeff Jacobson, a former legal director for the state attorney general’s office now in private practice.

“The legislative history is clear as a bell,” he said.

One of the last laws signed by Gov. Brendan Byrne before he left office, TCCWNA had a prime target, “Void where prohibited.” Advertisements, store notices, warranty forms, and even contracts contained this and similarly nebulous disclaimers. They seldom specified what was prohibited or where.

The problem is, “those provisions aren’t legal in New Jersey,” Jacobson said.

The act tackled that directly, saying, “No consumer contract, notice, or sign shall state that any of its provisions is or may be void, unenforceable, or inapplicable in some jurisdictions without specifying which provisions are or are not void, unenforceable, or inapplicable within the State of New Jersey.”

When passing the short bill, the state Legislature presented its view of the problem. As a complement to protections against fraud, legislators wanted consumers to know their legal rights.

“Far too many consumer contracts, warranties, notices, and signs contain provisions which clearly violate the rights of consumers,” the legislative statement said, adding, “Their very inclusion in a contract, warranty, notice, or sign deceives a consumer.”

The issue also had become one of safety, as some businesses expanded their disclaimers, attempting to evade responsibility for physical conditions on their property.

“Public storage firms had provisions in their contracts that said if you slip and fall on my premises, even if it’s my fault, you’re liable,” Jacobson said. “And if you bring your Uncle Joe to help you and he slips and falls, you have to indemnify me against any claim that he might bring.”

Recent cases show how TCCWNA is being cited in e-commerce disputes. In February, Darla Braden of Ocean County filed suit against TTI Floor North America of Solon, OH, the makers of Hoover vacuum cleaners, objecting to a liability disclaimer on the company’s website.

In March, David Hecht of Closter sued Hertz in federal court, seeking to establish a class suit challenging the car rental company’s terms for a rewards program. His suit contends the company does not say what conditions apply in New Jersey.

Worried companies should remember that “with respect to website terms of use, less is more,” Riester said. Some courts have allowed fuzzy updates of “void where prohibited,” such as “to the fullest extent allowed under applicable law.”

“If you’ve only received a letter, do nothing, and by that I don’t mean nothing, do your due diligence,” and tweak the language of any disclaimers, Riester said.

“I always advise people to fix the problem,” without going to court when possible, Jacobson said. If a website has attracted one challenge that might mean paying $1,000, “well, we (attorneys) will charge $1,000 to open the envelope,” he said.

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