Our correspondent Andreas Frank reports:  The U.S. Treasury formally warned banks Thursday to watch out for transactions by ousted Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych and his relatives and associates, citing sanctions by Canadian and European officials.

Mr. Yanukovych, some of his family members and other former government officials have been accused by the new government in Kiev of stealing state assets. The European Union and Canada signed orders to freeze the assets of 18 people incriminated by Ukrainian prosecutors.

“The measures being taken against these former Ukrainian officials and their close associates increase the risk that they will seek to move their assets in a deceptive fashion,” Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said in an advisory.

FinCEN’s notice updates an advisory last week warning that banks need to apply “enhanced scrutiny” to transactions by either Mr. Yanukovych or former senior officials in his government. The advisory was designed to protect against “misappropriated or diverted state assets, the proceeds of bribery or other illegal payments, or other public corruption proceeds.”  FINCEN Advisory