Investigating a crime? Don’t follow the product, follow the money 💰
In the TV series The Wire, Detective Lester Freamon famously said: “You follow drugs, you get drug addicts and drug dealers. But you start to follow the money, and you don’t know where it’s gonna take you.”
Today, these wise words still ring true. Our globally linked financial system is exploited by criminals looking to move ill-gotten gains across borders, often money generated through tax evasion, corruption and other criminal activities.
By moving their wealth around, criminals may launder it, disguising the illegal source of their funds and making it undetectable to authorities. 👮
Banks and financial regulators work tirelessly against money laundering, but their efforts are often limited by borders. Countries that work together to track criminal proceeds have the right idea: by being able to chase illicit money across national lines, authorities can stay one step ahead of the criminals.
The publication of the Panama Papers in 2016 is a great example of hardworking investigators diligently following the money to find the truth. By analyzing leaked documents from a Panama law firm, Mossack Fonseca, journalists and investigators were able to track shady financial transactions and offshore structures to find wealthy individuals and vast corporations hiding assets and evading taxes at the other end.
Criminal organizations use laundering to finance everything from gambling and societal corruption to drug smuggling, human trafficking and terrorism. And, with freshly cleaned money, they leave no trace.
Money laundering has evolved from the time-tested methods of owning cash-intensive businesses and smuggling money to new frontiers. Now, criminal organizations invest in real estate schemes, operate shell companies as a front and even engage in bank capture, where they purchase a controlling interest in a legitimate bank for illicit purposes.
Online gaming and cryptocurrency have ushered in the cyber age of money laundering. 👾 The scale is difficult to visualize, but the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that 2% to 5% of the entire global economy involves laundered money.
At The Owl, we have carried out specialized, cross-border investigations for clients who are looking to follow the money. Our investigations have entailed tracking oil being exported from sanctioned countries under a false flag tankers, uncovering companies acting as fronts for Mexican drug traffickers and discovering Free Trade Zones where ‘legitimate’ businesses hide their connections to Iran’s sanctioned regime.
Often what seems like a clean-cut enterprise can turn out to be something much darker when you begin chipping away at the surface. And, following the money can take you to some dark places.
That’s why you need licensed investigators to shine a light on the shadows. 🔦 With a sharp eye, The Owl can track down those bad actors and help keep your business safe.
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