Western Union settles in border wire-transfers case

Western Union will pay $94 million to settle a long-running legal battle with the state of Arizona over whether the company allowed its money transfers to be used to send proceeds from human trafficking and drug smuggling to Mexico, officials announced Thursday. The settlement includes $50 million that will help law enforcement operations in border states fight money laundering. Western Union has also agreed to beef up its internal procedures to stop its wire transfers from being exploited. The settlement resolves a legal battle that started in 2006. Goddard's office was in the midst of a years-long investigation of human traffickers when it filed papers to seize all transfers of more than $500 headed to the Mexican state of Sonora, Arizona's southern neighbor. Western Union sued to prevent the state from getting the transfers and the information on who was sending and receiving the money. In an interview Thursday, Goddard said that his office found tantalizing leads when it seized the first round of transfers and that, as part of the settlement, it would again have access to that information...read more