HOUTHI ATTACKS AND U.S. REFINING PROBLEMS FACILITATE TRADE-BASED MONEY LAUNDERING THROUGH PETROLEUM PAYMENTS

Not only are oil prices in Europe rising, due to Houthi attacks on tankers, but refinery issues in the United States, regarding diesel that is ultimately exported to the EU, add up to a seesawing of pricing that only aids trade-based money laundering (TBML) activities.Where there is no established price basis for any commodity, it becomes impossible for compliance officers conducting transaction monitoring to accurately estimate the market price of anything on a given day, which is a golden opportunity for laundrymen involved in TBMl to move dirty money inside that commodity, and petroleum products.

Also, given the chaos amid the usual sheer volume of transactions involving oil being shipped into the EU for its consumption, bogus (phantom) transactions, where payments are made, although no commodity is actually being transported from producing countries, have a much lower risk of identification and interdiction by compliance officers. Remember, money launderers engaged in TBML are sensitive to every little price change, supply chain issue, disruption status, and intervening causes for such up-and-down market price effects, even on a daily basis. Catch them in the act, ladies & gentlemen in compliance, but being even more current to what's happening in the specific markets than they are.