According to the US Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, a Dallas-based money transfer corporation admitted to failing to sufficiently guard against money laundering.
Ping Express U.S., a money-transfer mobile app and website, pleaded guilty to one count of failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering programme and one count of operating an illegal money-transfer business.
Customers in the United States were charged a fee to send money to beneficiaries in Nigeria and other African countries. According to court records, the company was licenced to send money but not to execute currency transactions.
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The company was unable to be reached for comment.
Ping Express U.S. was required to notify regulators of any questionable transactions. Ping Express pleaded in guilty papers to failing to file a single report over a three-year period, despite a large quantity of questionable client activity.
“Through our special agents and forensic accountants, we work tirelessly to remove money laundering and bulk cash smuggling crimes,” said Christopher Miller, acting special agent of Homeland Security Investigations Dallas, in a statement.
According to the company’s anti-money laundering guidelines, first-time client transactions are limited to $499, daily transactions to $3,000, and monthly transactions to $4,500. However, the business stated in plea papers that it permitted over 1,500 clients to breach these regulations.
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The corporation also transacted money in places where it was not licenced, including Nevada, New Jersey, Utah, West Virginia, and Connecticut. Ping Express is only licenced in Texas, Maryland, Georgia, Washington, and Washington, D.C. Oshionebo and Odeyale received 27-month federal jail sentences.
Ping Express faces up to five years on probation and a $500,000 fine. The company’s sentencing date has been set on December 19.
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According to its LinkedIn profile, Ping Express was formed in 2015 and has 11 to 50 employees. The company’s website was unavailable at the time of this report.
Ping Express fraud Ping Express fraud
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
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