{"id":109885,"date":"2025-10-31T02:19:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T02:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/109885\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T02:19:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T02:19:08","slug":"lexington-trust-services-stopped-from-doing-business-after-dia-finds-lax-money-laundering-protocols","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/109885\/","title":{"rendered":"Lexington Trust Services stopped from doing business after DIA finds lax money-laundering protocols"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">Lexington Trust Services Limited has already been removed from the Companies Register, with a notice placed in the New Zealand Gazette last May. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">The DIA said today it had accepted an \u201cenforceable undertaking\u201d from Lexington Trust Services. An enforceable undertaking is an agreement between the DIA and a business following a breach of the act. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">Under the enforceable undertaking, Lexington Trust Services agreed not to engage in any business activities relating to money laundering or countering financing of terrorism without the DIA\u2019s consent. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">As part of this, Lexington Trust Services cannot offer services such as setting up companies, managing money or assets for clients or helping with buying or selling businesses or property, the DIA said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">It follows a review into the company by the DIA in July 2023. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">Serge Sablyak, the DIA\u2019s director for anti-money laundering and countering terror financing, said: \u201cWe will take regulatory action against businesses that show a pattern of non-compliance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWe use different tools to deal with businesses that don\u2019t follow the law. Enforceable undertakings help us ensure compliance without the time and the expense of the court process,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cTaking enforcement action isn\u2019t just about addressing past conduct; it\u2019s also about preventing future harm. It sends a clear message that compliance with anti-money laundering laws is not optional.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">Christchurch Casino took responsibility for similar major anti-money laundering failures in July. It reached a settlement with the DIA where it agreed to pay $5 million. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">The DIA did not allege Christchurch Casino itself engaged in money laundering. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">The DIA said it investigated the casino between May 2023 and September 2024, and found breaches of several legal obligations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">The DIA said the casino failed to establish, implement and maintain a compliant anti-money laundering programme.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">It did not adequately monitor accounts, conduct compliant enhanced customer due diligence, or terminate existing business relationships when required.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/author\/raphael-franks\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Raphael Franks<\/a> is an Auckland-based reporter who covers business, breaking news and local stories from T\u0101maki Makaurau. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/nz\/the-daily-h-your-fast-smart-guide-to-the-days-biggest-headlines\/VQR5CULLQRECZP2ORSWPGDORBU\/?utm_source=nzherald&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;utm_id=nz_cta\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lexington Trust Services Limited has already been removed from the Companies Register, with a notice placed in the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[16751,74,16391,41054,1558,138,26034,31510,67297,31787,52338,11424,1874,71,10118,33186,78836,78835,93,300,78837,111,43,139,69,78838,1321,1324,14649,31451,9438],"class_list":["post-109885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-affairs","tag-after","tag-asset","tag-aucklandbased","tag-been","tag-business","tag-department","tag-detect","tag-dia","tag-doing","tag-financing","tag-finds","tag-found","tag-from","tag-internal","tag-laundering","tag-lax","tag-lexington","tag-manager","tag-money","tag-moneylaundering","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-protocols","tag-services","tag-stop","tag-stopped","tag-terrorism","tag-trust"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}