Financial Crime Matters

Kieran talks with Oliver Bullough, award winning reporter for The Guardian, about his latest book, “Butler to the World: How Britain Became the Servant of Tycoons, Tax Dodgers, Kleptocrats and Criminals.” During their conversation, Oliver details how Britain and its territories became a favored facilitator for many of the world’s kleptocrats, having transformed a financial system that once served the country’s global empire into one adept at “investing” illicit funds and serving the whims of transnational criminals. A Russian studies specialist, Oliver expresses guarded optimism about recent U.K. legislative and regulatory developments in response to the invasion of Ukraine that may be a step toward ending Britain’s role as butler to the world’s financial criminals.

Kieran talks with Dan Stipano, partner at Davis Polk, and Jamal El-Hindi, Counsel at Clifford Chance, about the Financial Crime Enforcement Network’s far reaching new rules for creating a U.S. beneficial ownership information (BOI) database for regulators and law enforcement, including who will be required to file personal identifying information and who will not have access to the registry. Mandated by Congress to be operational by January 2024, Dan and Jamal also detail some of the essential questions that remain unanswered about the registry, and what the regulatory landscape will look like in 2023 and beyond. Dan and Jamal come to the discussion with Kieran drawing on 50 collective years of service in the U.S. regulatory community, Dan having started in private practice after 30 years with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Jamal after 20 years in the U.S. Treasury.

Kieran talks with Jonathan Dupont, a financial intelligence investigator for Western Union, and Tiffany Polyak, AFC Associate at ACAMS, about the growth in online sexual exploitation of children and the related rise in child sexual abuse materials on the Internet. In exposing the scope of the online exploitation, Jonathan and Tiffany point to the more than 100 million reports of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in Europe and the United States in 2021, with 19,000 victims being identified in the United States alone. Drawing from their work to create ACAMS’ free online anti-CSAM training program, Jonathan and Tiffany detail typologies and tools to identify financial transactions associated with the exploitation of children, with the ultimate aim of apprehending the perpetrators of this heinous crime. “ACAMS CSAM Certificate” is part of a handful of training programs available as a public service. Visit https://www.acams.org/en/training/certificates/preventing-online-child-exploitation-with-financial-intelligence-an-overview to learn more.

Kieran talks with Bryan Smith, chief of the FBI’s Cybercriminal Section and a 20-year bureau veteran, about the growing threat of cybercrime to both individuals and large corporations. Bryan discusses the destruction caused by cyber hacking, identity theft and old fashion fraud and he shares some of the successes the FBI has had in recovering stolen funds – whether in fiat currencies or crypto. While concerned about future cybercrime threats from criminals who are always innovating, Bryan also argues that there is much that can be done to prevent cybercrime and catch its perpetrators when law enforcement and the private sector work closely together. *This Financial Crime Matters podcast is sponsored by Verafin. For nearly 20 years, Verafin has helped institutions like yours fight financial crime and keep pace with changing regulations. For more information on how Verafin can help your institution, visit https://verafin.com today.

Kieran talks with Nathan Lynch, author of 'The Lucky Laundry' - an expose of how Australia became the conduit for billons of dollars in laundered funds from the proceeds of drug trafficking, corruption, the sexual exploitation of children and other heinous crimes committed by transnational criminal organizations. Nathan, Manager of Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence, Asia-Pacific, details how the 'Lucky Country' (as Australians view their homeland) became the 'Lucky Laundry' undermining confidence in the nation’s largest financial institutions and government, and creating a still unmet outcry for stricter anti-money laundering measures from parliament.

Kieran talks with ACAMS colleague Joby Carpenter about the current tumult in the digital asset world, including plummeting cryptocurrency prices, digital value’s exploitation by money launderers, the threat from cyberhackers, and the rise in crypto-related fraud schemes. A global subject matter expert on cryptocurrency, Joby draws on 18 years of experience in strategic and risk analysis roles across the UK government, intelligence and regulatory community and concludes that there is a saner, albeit more regulated, future ahead for digital assets.

Kieran talks with Daniel Thelesklaf, Project Director for Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking (FAST) at the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research about the effort to protect refugees fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from human trafficking. While many governments, organizations and individuals are offering support for refugees that includes information, food, shelter and job placements, “there are traffickers waiting at the borders” with job and other offers that Daniel says are, of course, too good to be true. Financial institutions have a vital role and a responsibility, he adds, in helping those dispossessed by the war obtain banking services if they are to be less susceptible to traffickers and successfully fit into communities where they are resettled.

Kieran talks with Ilze Znotina about the challenges Latvia has faced over the past four years she has been head of the Financial Intelligence Unit, including enforcing sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. “Baltic states have suffered… a very similar situation that Ukraine is suffering right now, [but] thankfully not in recent years,” Ilze says, adding that the region is for that reason united in trying to make the sanctions work. “[Ukraine] fights for themselves and all of us in the Baltic states,” she says. Ilze, who became head of the FIU in the wake of the collapse of the country’s second largest bank and under the looming threat the Financial Action Task Force would place the country on its so-called “grey list,” also details how Latvia has moved from those darker days to put in place vigorous anti-financial crime controls.

Kieran talks with Jessica Davis, a veteran of more than 20 years in defense and intelligence roles in government and the private sector in Canada. They discuss the occupation of Canada’s capitol for three weeks last winter by the so-called “Freedom Convoy,” efforts to support the group via crowdfunding, cryptocurrency, and cash as well as the Canadian government’s successful seizure or freezing of much of that funding. Jessica, president of Insight Threat Intelligence and author of “Illicit Money: Financing Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century,” tells Kieran that the unprecedented use of Canada’s “Emergencies Act” to clear the Convoy encampment and seize its funding should kickoff a nationwide debate about financial support for extremist groups. “While there may not have been mass shootings or big riots, there were some very significant impacts that for Canada, and for Ottawa in particular, are really outside the realm of what we consider to be acceptable protests,” Jessica says, reflecting on the thousands of unemployed and million in damage resulting from the occupation.

Kieran talks with John Sifton, advocacy director, and Patti Gossman, associate Asia director, at Human Rights Watch about the dire humanitarian situation in Afghanistan following the return of the Taliban to power. “One in three families is facing food insecurity” from malnourishment to starvation, says Patti, adding that the crisis is affecting not only the already impoverished, but middle-class and working-class people who are no longer paid for their jobs and have no access to their savings. “Sanctions on Afghanistan are an important part of the economic crisis, but they are not the root cause” as actions by the U.S. Treasury have improved the flow of funds to private banks, John says. “But that’s not solving any of the larger macroeconomic problems and liquidity problems,” John argues, in calling for an end to the isolation of the Afghan central bank from the international banking system.