October 7, 2015 - Lawsuit against the U.S. Treasury and FinCEN

Ramon and Higini Cierco filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Treasury and FinCEN claiming that the agency's actions against BPA were unjustified and unconstitutional. The Ciercos suit argued that FinCEN had no legitimate basis for its notice under Section 311 of the Patriot Act and that the notice was fatally defective, as it failed to provide the informational basis for its actions.

Subsequent events have made it clear that FinCEN did not have a basis to act against BPA, but in fact was frustrated with the Government of Andorra's unresponsiveness in making systemwide changes to its anti-money laundering measures. As a result, the Ciercos turned to US courts to rescind FinCEN’s order and enable them to resume control of the banks' remaining assets.