Cleaning House: Combatting Money Laundering
Martin Cheek, 02 June 2021
Money laundering, for the general public, is the stuff of gritty dramas like Ozark or the notorious dealings of Pablo Escobar and El Chapo. In popular culture, it is depicted as an activity to be done in the dark of night with neatly-stacked wads of cash deposited into duffel bags. The reality, however, is much more banal, with most money laundering occurring in the guise of an unremarkable series of transactions designed to obfuscate the trail for any who might be inclined to investigate.
The real estate sector has long been a favorite of money launderers, as the lack of regulation and use of shell companies have enabled them to “wash” a large quantity of cash through the system in one transaction. The truth is that nobody really knows how much money is laundered through real estate—not least because much of it currently goes undetected. This opacity might serve shady operators well, but it can have catastrophic effects on the rest of the economy, as the 2008 housing crisis demonstrated all too devastatingly. Continue reading “Article: Cleaning House: Combatting Money Laundering”
Daleep Singh is a member of the executive committee at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He is executive vice president and head of the Markets Group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Prior to joining the New York Fed, Mr. Singh was senior partner and chief U.S. economist at the global investment firm SPX Capital, from 2017 to 2019. Before that, he worked at the U.S. Department of the Treasury from 2011 to 2017. Prior to his tenure at the Treasury Department, Singh worked for Goldman Sachs, from 2003 to 2007, and again from 2008 to 2011. He was also a partner at Element Capital Management from 2007 to 2008. Singh holds a bachelor’s degree with Duke University in economics and public policy. He also holds a master of business administration/master of public administration from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University.