DID ACCIDENTAL EXPOSURE OF PEP DATABASE TIP OFF HIDDEN PEPS ?

A "Hidden PEP" is a Politically Exposed Person who holds himself or herself abroad as a non-PEP, using a carefully constructed occupation or profession to deceive bankers into thinking that they have a low-risk, yet affluent, client. Typically, they open an account at an international bank, wait until a short period elapses, and then move the proceeds of corruption quickly through the account into a tax haven jurisdiction, or to a money launderer, abandoning the account, and moving on to another bank, to repeat the process. Later, the money laundering is exposed, but the PEP is long gone.

Another variation is to purchase a Citizenship by Investment  (CBI/CIP) passport from an East Caribbean State, under an alias, where money talks, and effective due diligence can be quietly "waived" by a greedy government official. Either way, the PEP succeeds in his quest to move dirty money through your bank.

Now, since some third party provider negligently left off password protection of a major PEP database, said to contain between two and four million names, some of those Hidden PEPs may know now tat they have been made. With the benefit of facial recognition software, those with aliases can still be properly identified. We wonder if, somewhere, certain PEPs have been advised, by their money laundering advisors, that they are at risk, and that they must cease their dark activities.