Dallas-based wire-transfer giant MoneyGram International Inc has agreed to forfeit $100 million to the Justice Department in a case that reflects federal prosecutors' new appetite for aggressively targeting non-bank financial institutions involved in laundering crime proceeds. As part of its settlement with the Justice Department, which involved the largest penalty ever paid by a non-bank financial institution in a case involving anti-money laundering lapses, MoneyGram entered into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) in which it admitted criminally aiding and abetting wire fraud and failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program between 2004 and 2009. MoneyGram also agreed to create an independent compliance and ethics committee of the board of directors, adopt a global anti-fraud and anti-money laundering standard and a compliance-based bonus system, and scrutinize agents deemed to be high-risk or who operate in a high-risk area. It must retain a corporate monitor
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