Financial Crime

19th May 2020

Fraud Factory Firms Traced to Penniless Proxies

By Mattias Carlsson, Holger Roonemaa, Oliver Kund and Hannes Munzinger, OCCRP, 18 May 2020 OCCRP — Rita is almost 13,000 euros in debt and was convicted of shoplifting a bottle of gin. Ricardo is unemployed and has been arrested several times for drug possession and driving without a license. His mother,… Read More

13th May 2020

Vatican official was director in London property broker’s company

As the Vatican’s Secretariat of State finalized its purchase of a London luxury apartment building, a lay secretariat official who oversaw investments was appointed a director of a company owned by the financier who brokered the property deal. Vatican sources tell CNA that appointment is now under investigation, as Vatican… Read More

7th May 2020

Covid-19 and Illicit Financial Flows: What’s to Come

GFI — Even in normal times, there has been a growing recognition of the threat that illicit financial flows (IFFs) pose to the integrity and stability of the global financial system. But now, with the onslaught of the Covid-19 crisis, concerns are growing that the scale and scope… Read More

7th May 2020

MEPs demand answers from EIB after AML compliance failings

Members of the European Parliament have demanded answers from the president of the European Investment Bank following revelations made by the Luxembourg Times into anti-money laundering failures. Twelve Greens and European Free Alliance MEPs sent the letter to Werner Hoyer on Wednesday, requesting that he discloses compliance shortfalls identified… Read More

4th May 2020

Author Tom Mueller on Financial Crime in the ‘Age of the Whistleblower’

Don’t accuse whistleblowers of being in it for the money. So says Tom Mueller, author of Crisis of Conscience: Whistleblowing in an Age of Fraud, during a recent episode of KYC360’s AML Talk Show hosted by Martin Woods. “The vast majority of whistleblowers that I interviewed, their… Read More

30th April 2020

Armenia Introduces New Unexplained Wealth Law

By David Klein, OCCRP, 29 April 2020 OCCRP — A new law adopted by the Armenian parliament would allow prosecutors investigating unexplained wealth to petition courts in the country to take hold of any property worth more than US$100,000 and acquired after 1991, the year of the country’s foundation. Read More

29th April 2020

How Banks Are Using Behavioral Science to Prevent Scandals

Efforts to deal with corporate malfeasance, employee misconduct, and ethical failings are falling short. Nowhere is this more visible than in the financial sector. More than $400 billion has been paid in fines since the 2008 financial crisis. But one corner of the industry offers hope: It is using behavioral… Read More

24th April 2020

COVID-19: A perfect storm for the corrupt?

Around the world, governments are intensifying their efforts to combat the global spread of the coronavirus by enacting various measures to support public health systems, safeguard the economy and to ensure the safety of citizens. At the same time, criminals have been quick to seize opportunities to exploit the crisis. Read More

16th April 2020

Reforming the Response to Financial Crime: Making the Most of a Crisis

In mid-March, the US Financial Intelligence Unit (FinCEN) posted a short news release encouraging financial institutions to remain alert to COVID-19-related illicit financial activity, listing a series of potential scams and the steps FinCEN expects banks to take in response. In the UK, law enforcement agencies have likewise… Read More

15th April 2020

Westpac expects $900 million penalty for breaching money laundering laws

Westpac has revealed it will suffer a massive $1.4 billion hit to its first-half earnings. In a statement, Australia’s second-largest bank said the bulk of these “increased provisions” and write-downs related to the AUSTRAC money laundering scandal. The bank estimated that it might receive a $900 million fine for… Read More