Banco Delta Asia secures withdrawal of Section 311 designation

Client(s) Banco Delta Asia

Jones Day represented Banco Delta Asia, a small family-owned Macau bank, and its owner in a lawsuit challenging the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's (FinCEN) 2007 designation of the bank as an institution "of primary money laundering concern" under Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act. Following years of efforts to resolve the issue outside of litigation, FinCEN voluntarily withdrew the designation after Jones Day opposed the government’s motion for summary judgment with a challenge to the completeness of the administrative record and a demand for discovery regarding the pretextual reasons for the designation. This is the first and so far only case in the twenty years since Section 311 was adopted in which FinCEN has withdrawn a Section 311 designation absent the demise or sale of the designated financial institution.

Banco Delta Asia, S.A.R.L. v. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, No. 1:13-cv-00333 (D.D.C.)