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Anand Sithian is a counsel in Crowell & Moring’s New York office. He is a member of the International Trade and the White Collar & Regulatory Enforcement groups. Anand advises clients on a variety of regulatory issues and investigations relating to anti-money laundering (AML), the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), U.S. economic sanctions, including those administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and asset forfeiture matters. Anand routinely counsels clients on the novel application of these laws and regulations to issues involving financial institutions, technology and social media, virtual currency and digital assets (including the seizure and forfeiture of virtual currencies), and the evolving cannabis industry.

On January 3, 2023, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the “Federal Banking Regulators” or “Agencies”) issued a Joint Statement (“Joint Statement”) highlighting key risks for banking organizations associated with crypto-assets and the crypto-asset sector. 

The Joint Statement

John J. Ray, CEO of the FTX debtors will testify tomorrow before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services at a hearing entitled “Investigating the Collapse of FTX, Part I.”  Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of the FTX Group, is scheduled to appear as well, albeit remotely

Mr. Ray’s prepared remarks are available online

On August 8, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) sanctioned virtual currency mixing service Tornado Cash, which OFAC said has been used to launder billions of dollars in virtual currency, including $455 million stolen by the Lazarus Group, a Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (“DPRK”) state-sponsored hacking group