Podcast “American Kleptocracy”

Casey Michel with the Hudson Institute's Kleptocracy Initiative joins the podcast for a very lively discussion about his new book, American Kleptocracy: How the U.S. Created the World’s Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History. Casey discusses America’s role in the problem of global kleptocracy and shares some optimism about the path ahead.

To listen click HERE. 

Flags of Convenience - Bribe, Swindle or Steal Podcast

Tom Cardamone, President and CEO of Global Financial Integrity, joins the podcast to discuss the regulatory and enforcement challenges associated with flags of convenience. These range from trafficked labor to environmental violations and Tom highlights the inherent tension between substantial tax incentives on one hand and accountability on the other.

Listen to this podcast HERE.

"Thieves of State": Sarah Chayes on Afghanistan

Afghanistan is in the new once again. With the lightning collapse of the Afghanistan Government and the return of the Taliban we offer you a replay of this podcast, originally published in June 2017 on Bribe, Swindle or Steal.

Sarah Chayes, author of Thieves of State, draws on her time in Afghanistan to explain the systemic corruption that contributed to the rapid crumbling of the state. 

Click HERE to access this Podcast.

Bribe, Swindle or Steal explores the world of financial crime—corruption, fraud, money laundering and sanctions—and what motivates people to break the law, how wrongdoers cover their tracks and what can be done to put a stop to the looting through interviews with experts in the field.

Moneyland, Kleptopia & On Corruption - How the corrupt operate

Oliver Bullough, Tom Burgis and Sarah Chayes, authors of three of the best books on global corruption, gather for a panel at the Annapolis Book Festival for a fascinating discussion about how the corrupt operate, often with impunity, and what can be done to slow the pace of looting.

The global system for combatting financial crime is hugely expensive and largely ineffective

Another bank is preparing to face the music over alleged failings in its efforts to curb flows of dirty money. NatWest, one of the UK’s largest lenders, is set to appear in court in London to respond to charges that it failed to properly scrutinize a gold-dealing client that deposited £365m with the bank—£264m of it in cash.

NatWest (which has said it is co-operating with the investigation) is the latest in a long line of banks to be accused of falling short in the fight against dirty money. 

In 2020 global banks were fined $10.4bn in penalties for money-laundering violations. This is an increase of more than 80% on 2019. 

In January, Capital One, an American bank, was fined $390m for failing to report thousands of suspicious transactions. 

Danske Bank is still dealing with the fallout of a scandal that erupted in 2018. Over $200bn of potentially dirty money was washed through the Danish lender’s small Estonian branch while executives missed or ignored a sea of red flags.

Closer examination suggests that the global anti-money-laundering (AML) system has serious structural flaws, mainly because governments have outsourced to the private sector much of the policing they should have been doing themselves. 

Read the full article on The Economist HERE

'The Age of Irresponsibility is over' - Mark Carney's Mansion House speech in full

From The Telegraph -

“The Bank of England's Governor unveils another crackdown on the financial sector, during his Mansion House speech”

Read it HERE>>

British Regulators Fine Bank of Beirut $3.2 Million

From The New York Times –

"The Financial Conduct Authority of Britain said on Thursday that it had fined the Bank of Beirut and temporarily banned it from signing up new clients in high-risk locations after the lender misled regulators about efforts to prevent money laundering and other financial crimes.

The regulator said the Bank of Beirut repeatedly gave misleading information about the progress of efforts to address concerns about the lender’s financial crime identification systems and controls.

The bank, which operates in Australia, Britain, Cyprus, Germany, Lebanon and Oman, was fined 2.1 million pounds, or about $3.2 million, and was banned from acquiring new clients for 126 days in places considered to be at high risk for financial crime.

A former compliance officer at the bank and an internal auditor were also fined a combined £29,500, the regulator said."

Read more>>