MONEY LAUNDERING CAN HAVE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

Here's a tip for those financial service professionals in Norway who may have been approached recently with a lucrative proposal to facilitate a money laundering operation, cleaning the proceeds of what appears to be a massive cocaine trafficking scheme; it can be hazardous to your health. I know this from personal experience. Your involvement in laundering the proceeds of crime means that you will have evidence that can implicate, and ultimately convict, the clients that you are providing illicit services for. That makes you a liability, and potentially a victim of their violent actions from them, should the need arise, meaning if law enforcement learns about your role, and chooses to get to your clients through your testimony or evidence.

While I personally experienced death threats for some of my more dangerous clients, perhaps you will better understand what can happen to you, should you choose to engage in money laundering for narcotics traffickers, if I detail the unhappy ending of others that I knew who were also in that sordid business.

Enter the prominent attorney William Herbert Jr., UN Ambassador & the Foreign Minister of newly-independent St. Kitts & Nevis, and the Constitutional Adviser to Her Majesty's Government over in the neighboring British Overseas territory of Anguilla, where I laundered millions of dollars of cocaine profits for American and European traffickers, with the able assistance of Doctor Herbert. He was not only my lawyer there, forming bearer-share companies and assisting in the registration of smuggling vessels in Cardiff, but as a substantial shareholder in a local bank, facilitated the deposit of money bulk cash smuggled out of the Continental United States.

Dr. Herbert also laundered money raised by the IRA among Irish-Americans in New England, and when a substantial amount of money in transit to Europe went missing, his client blamed him for the loss, irrespective of how that occurred. Such is the lot of the laundryman when thing so south, as they often do in that dirty business.

One sunny Sunday, Herbert and a dozen of his family, friends and visiting British tourists took to sea on his yacht, only to disappear from the face of the earth. I tend to think that a certain Kittitian career criminal, now serving a life sentence in the US for other crimes, was involved, though cannot be certain. A retired DEA agent told me, years later, that Herbert, as well as all his guests, was buried under a swimming pool then under construction in Basseterre, the SKN capital.

The sad thing about it is that Herbert did not steal the money; it was seized by MI-6 in the UK, although they will most certainly deny it. Instead of ending up as Prime Minister of St. Kitts, Doctor Herbert's lucrative involvement as a money launderer came to an abrupt end. Call it a teachable lesson from the Caribbean.

Another story: A Miami attorney, who shall remain anonymous for now, known for representing clients from Latin America drowned, cutting short a promising legal career. We had once both been associates in a prominent firm, where he had assisted me in learning the ropes in litigation. Years later, I was lecturing at an AML conference, and here again a law enforcement agent, now retired, asked me about him. it turns out his death was no accident. It was no surprise to me, for one of my clients had once complained that money entrusted to him had not been properly handled. The agent explained to me the circumstances of his demise, which I shall not relate here, but it was not pretty.

As you can see,given the dangers, money laundering is not a career choice any of you should ever wish to engage in, unless you have a high tolerance for personal risk, or a death wish. I am extremely lucky to have survived. Do not follow in my footsteps, please, even if you are single and a risk junkie. It's simply not worth it.Take it from one who has been there.