Bullough – Financial Treason & Crime

NorthRow: The Challenge of Beneficial Ownership – How to Unravel Complex Money Laundering Webs

Gina Clarke, 09 June 2021

Identifying Ultimate Beneficial Owners can be challenging for many regulated firms. Financial criminals are adept at obscuring the true identities of Beneficial Owners by using complex legal structures and shell companies to launder illicit funds. Cross border corruption and money laundering is happening on a much wider scale with fraudsters hiding behind complex corporate structures.

Greater transparency and public access for company registries is a key focus for both the UK and European Union (EU). However, the latest Transparency International report highlights the lack of availability and accessibility of beneficial ownership data in some EU countries. Continue reading “Article: NorthRow: The Challenge of Beneficial Ownership – How to Unravel Complex Money Laundering Webs”

What links cybercrime, terrorism and illegal trade? Dark money

Oliver Bullough, 18 May 2021

In March, the government published its review of all the threats facing this country, and how it would respond to them, from hostile autocracies and cybercrime to terrorism and trade. Running through the pages of this huge and complex document, like lead through a pencil, is one consistent vulnerability: dark money.

No matter who you identify as our adversaries – mafia groups, al-Qaida, whoever – they all hide their wealth in the shadows of the financial system: by obscuring ownership with shell companies, or using dodgy banks, or by holding wealth in the form of physical assets, such as fine art. And shining light on those shadows will expose their secrets and help make us all safer. It will also make us more prosperous: more than 2,200 acts of fraud are reported every day in Britain. Those crimes cost us billions upon billions of pounds, and often most affect older and vulnerable people. Continue reading “Article: What links cybercrime, terrorism and illegal trade? Dark money”