Mónica MacGregor is a Principal in Control Risks’ Compliance, Investigations and Technology practice in the Americas, leading its Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Compliance & Investigations Services. A senior compliance professional with more than 20 years of experience, Mónica specializes in investigating international financial crimes and developing global risk management for crypto exchanges, fintechs, money services businesses (MSBs), broker dealers, traditional financial institutions and other regulated entities.
She has led engagements in more than 20 countries across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Mónica’s ability to serve as a trusted advisor to her clients derives from her extensive experience working on the prosecution, defence and in-house management of AML compliance programs, remediations and investigations.
Mónica’s recent experience includes:
Serving as US BSA officer and deputy money laundering reporting officer for the UK at a leading crypto exchange, where she developed and implemented policies and procedures that established a risk-based sanctions compliance program, enhanced due diligence measures, a dynamic blockchain analysis transaction monitoring system and a robust investigations protocol;
Serving as a testifying expert in a landmark US federal criminal case that involved anti-money laundering compliance issues related to the credit card processing of marijuana purchases;
Remediating an FDIC-mandated consent order and implementing a remediation action plan that required the overhaul and model validation of key data ingestion processes, designing a high-risk customer risk rating model and integrating it into the transaction monitoring system, revamping an enhanced due diligence process, and enterprise-wide training to cultivate a “culture of compliance.”
Serving as an expert witness for a leading US provider of short‐term loans that had been accused of negligence and inadequate internal controls by a US federal savings bank following a multi‐state identity theft, check fraud and internet phishing scam that targeted the bank’s depositors;
Securing the lifting of a cease-and-desist order for deficiencies in an institution’s anti-money laundering and sanctions program regarding on‐boarding and monitoring of MSB clients, including Mexican casas de cambio (exchange bureaus); participating in voluntary self-disclosure and direct negotiations with the US Office of Foreign Assets Control to secure adequate time for the remediation and performance of a lookback in lieu fines; redesigning sanctions screening, suspicious activity monitoring and reporting procedures following the overhaul of the institution’s suspicious activity monitoring system and associated reports;
Serving as a financial expert assisting the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section of the US Department of Justice with the investigation and prosecution of systemic compliance deficiencies at both US and foreign institutions; working directly with federal drug enforcement agents, the FBI, and immigration and customs investigators and liaising with foreign government agencies.
Mónica holds a BSc in economics and international relations from the London School of Economics, is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist and is Chainalysis Reactor certified . She is a native speaker of English and Spanish and is also fluent in French and proficient in Portuguese.
