FATF FAILS TO PLACE RUSSIA ON GREYLIST OR BLACKLIST BECAUSE BRICS COUNTRIES WON'T AGREE TO IT

If you were wondering why the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) did not recently place RUSSIA on either its list of Countries of Heightened Concern (the "Grey List') or its Blacklist, notwithstanding Russia's close military ties to Iran and North Korea (DPRK), it was because such action requires Member consensus, and the BRICS countries did not agree to such action. Russia does, however, remain suspended from its FATF membership, due to the UKRAINE INVASION.

This might be an appropriate time to remember that it is the BRICS countries that still maintain a relationship with Russia, and have failed to condemn Russia for the war in Ukraine. Compliance officers at Western banks should keep that mind when encountering transactions that might possibly be clever indirect sanctions evasions involving Russia.

HERE ARE THE DATES AND TIMES FOR MY THREE-PART ADVANCED MONEY LAUNDERING TECHNIQUES SEMINAR

The start times have been moved to allow subscribers in North America, the Caribbean, and Latin America to participate during normal business hours.

To sign up: https://titc.io/kenneth-rijock-the-laundry-man

ARE YOU INVESTING IN AN ECONOMIC CITIZENSHIP IN 2024? YOU MAY WANT TO RETAIN A LAWYER IN ADVANCE

If you saw our recent article, SELLERS OF ST. KITTS CBI PASSPORTS IN DUBAI CONTINUE TO DECEIVE BUYERS ABOUT INGOING SCANDAL AND RICO LITIGATION, you know that we are very disturbed about the lack of disclosure of adverse information by the Migration Investment industry. What always amazes me is that otherwise smart investors generally neglect to engage a competent attorney to represent them in what is an important six figure investment, purchasing  a second citizenship & passport. The Citizenship by Investment (CBI/CIP) programs in Saint Kitts & Nevis and in Saint Lucia  are facing direct threats to their very existence, by reason of allegations of fraud, money laundering and corruption, and we see someone claiming to be an "expert" in that country boldly hawking what could very well be an endangered product, which could lose its valued visa-free access to Europe, and even be cancelled. There are sufficient multiple misrepresentations of material facts, made by the sellers, verging on, if not outright, fraud in the inducement. Some investors have even accused the sellers of being charlatans who sell a flawed product.

   It is humbly suggested that any investor affluent enough to be considering a CBI or CIP passport first engage a lawyer who can perform sufficient enhanced due diligence investigation, to ascertain whether the proposed investment is sound, and not one likely to backfire on the client who chooses to obtain one.

Your lawyer must determine whether a number of important factors rule out the acquisition of that citizenship & passport, such as:

1. Whether the terms and conditions of the specific product you wish to purchase are authorized under the CBI laws of the jurisdiction selling it. Remember the illegally-discounted sales scandal in both Saint Kitts and Saint Lucia, courtesy Caribbean Galaxy and Heng Sheng.

2. Whether the program itself is under threat, from civil or criminal litigation, pending or threatened, that might result in the termination of the scheme itself. The impact of any litigation, such as MSR Media case, and any other cases that may surface.

3. Whether the grounds by which the country issuing it can terminate and cancel the citizenship & passport offer Due Process protection, or are arbitrary and capricious. Can it be cancelled at will, without any remedy at law, by an unelected government functionary? 

4. Whether the company selling you the citizenship has had consumer complaints, or is only in business for a short time, or whether its principals were formerly engaged in activities that makes them a risk to you for any reason. Is your seller a former crypto vendor or operator of a gaming or porno site?

5. Whether there are significant levels of corruption in the Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU), or in the local government, which could affect the durability of the citizenship you are purchasing. Rampant corruption could cause the government to fall, and the program along with it.

6. Whether the jurisdiction through which you are acquiring the citizenship has a history of money laundering and financial crime which might make all holders of its passports targets of foreign law enforcement agencies, government regulators, international NGOs, or other organizations. Think the East Caribbean tax havens/offshore financial centers as hotbeds of crime.

7. Whether the primary advantages the citizenship and passport offers could be revoked, restricted or terminated without notice, by third parties, becoming more or less useless for the purpose you originally acquired it for. Think the complete loss of visa-free UK, EC and Commonwealth access.

There are other potential issues; this is not intended to be a comprehensive list; international taxation; the potential legal effect of the second passport on your original nationality; future possible global sanctions; you will want to have all risk factors examined by an experienced lawyer prior to sending that wire transfer. Has buying a second citizenship gotten more complex? No, but the problems that were always there have been painfully exposed in 2024. Look before you leap, please .    

 

CARIBBEAN GALAXY INSIDER EXPOSES CLOSE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HIS COMPANY AND THE EASTERN EUROPEAN CRIME ORGANIZATION, BEMAX, A CURRENT ST. LUCIA CIP CONTRACTOR

Ying Jin in the Saint Kitts UN Delegation with Foreign Minister Douglas

CARIBBEAN GALAXY GROUP not only has an incestuous relationship with the Eastern European entity BEMAX, whose organized crime activity resulted in multiple arrests earlier this year, but who directed its Chinese customers specifically to buy out all the available subscriptions to the pending BEMAX CIP project in Saint Lucia. We know this because a ranking Galaxy staff member, unhappy with the company's sale of illegally-discounted economic citizenships, has disclosed important details regarding what appear to be activities involving rampant criminal conduct in its operation.

We are publishing them here, verbatim, and unedited, for the benefit of our readers, to demonstrate the depth of the alleged criminality our Galaxy source finds extremely troubling:

1. All Galaxy's clients (ST LUCIA & ST KITTS REAL ESTATE PROGRAM) signed a title release agreement which proved that they will not own the "unit" after they receive the passport. And of course, this agreement also supports that the clients know exactly that this is a scandal program by "passive investment" instead of real estate investment.

2. It seems that the new ST KITTS administration are not interested in fully investigate both the hotel and the jail programs by Galaxy, they are approving and issuing the passport efficiently. All the government need to do is to fastly end all the pending Galaxy application and avoid the possible Schengen access cancellation. And you've already noticed the new administration also has a strong relationship with Ying Jin and Galaxy.

3. The detailed selling price for each programs and all of them are way below the legal required minimum amount.

4. Galaxy opened bank accounts in Dubai to avoid western supervision on their transactions .                                                                                                                         5. Another interesting topic is that Galaxy submitted all their Chinese clients under Bemax's infrastructure project, considering they used to have an office in Montenegro, they might have a very close relationship with Bemax.

  6. They are updating their escrow agreement for St. Kitts clients and using their shell       company registered in HK or Dubai to transfer the investment amount, and ST KITTS   citizenship investment unit is actually approving those acts.

 We remind our readers that GALAXY formerly had an office in MONTENEGRO, where BEMAX has its principal offices,, and where the multiple arrests for smuggling, including that of its CEO ALEKSANDER MIJAJLOVIC, occurred. Former Galaxy CEO YING JIN, is known to have been personally involved in the operations of the company's Montenegro office.

Mijajlovic, being released after his arrest on smuggling charges

We are are expecting additional inside information from our confidential source imminently, regarding the company's operations, many of which are illegal under the CIP regulations of Saint Lucia, and of Saint Kitts & Nevis; we intend to bring further details to light, regarding the systemic corruption and illegal conduct of Caribbean Galaxy in both CBI/CIP programs; stay tuned.

SOME STRAY DETAILS REGARDING TERRORIST FINANCING IN THE MIDDLE EAST WAR

Noted, but not widely reported:

(1) When HAMAS leader YAHYA SINWAR was killed in Gaza, Soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces found ILS 40,000 in cash on him. That's around US$10,500. What was he doing with all that cash, in a bombed-out roofless building? He certainly wasn't making retail purchases.  Was it bribe money to keep his decreasing bodyguard close at hand? Who needs that much walking-around money anyway? Call it Greed & Avarice, which Hamas leaders have no shortage of. 

(2) The REPUBLIC OF MALTA has been curiously silent regarding the obscene amount of cryptocurrency that left that EU Member state for Hamas' treasury, after the sanctioned terrorist organization solicited "donations."

(3) Is there or is there not five hundred million dollars, collected/stolen by HEZBOLLAH from the destitute Lebanese people, hidden under a major hospital in Lebanon? Israel says yes. Will it be recovered by the Government of Lebanon to feed and clothe its population?  

FIFTY YEARS IN MONEY LAUNDERING, ON ONE SIDE OR THE OTHER

Last week, I was in Washington on business, and stayed at the WATERGATE HOTEL, where more than five decades ago, a crew of former CIA agents from Miami broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. When arrested, the men had new sequentially-numbered $100 bills, and the government investigator who traced the origin of that cash called me up one day in 1974. I was a young bank lawyer, and one of the firm's clients was Republic National Bank of Miami, then the city's first and only Hispanic-owned financial institution. Former CIA Agent BERNARD BARKER had an account there, and some of President Nixon's campaign funds had come into his account from a Mexican and an American bank. We can trace the subsequent origin of the Bank Secrecy Act to fallout from the Watergate Scandal, which Nixon signed into law before his historic resignation later that year.

That was to be my first, and of course not my last, exposure to the dark world of money laundering, and the start of a long journey, from bank lawyer to career money launderer to federal Inmate to compliance officer to Financial Crime Consultant.

At the Watergate Hotel, they have preserved Room 214, where the Watergate burglars stayed, before conducting their abortive break-in. It was interesting to be there in 2024, and to reflect upon how it touched upon my life in a small way, and where the future has now found me.

JOIN ME FOR THREE DAYS OF ANALYZING ADVANCED, ESOTERIC AND OBSCURE MONEY LAUNDERING TECHNIQUES

Do you know how to recognize the advanced money laundering techniques that you can't find in the manuals, or by attending AML conferences? Due to the demand that I have received to make that information available, I am presenting a three-part series where we take apart the laundryman's tricks of the trade, regarding those techniques that are unknown to compliance officers, rarely employed, or so obscure that you may only see them once in your career. I will explain and analyze them, and show you how to recognize them in real time. Join me; Presented in association with TITC.IO .

https://titc.io/kenneth-rijock-the-laundry-man

OPPOSITION IN SAINT VINCENT & THE GRENADINES FAVORS ESTABLISHING A CITIZENSHIP BY INVESTMENT PROGRAM IF ELECTED IN 2025; IS THAT WISE?

Although it is a full year until national elections in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the country's Opposition leaders are making the establishment of Citizenship by Investment (CBI/CIP) passport sales programs the centerpiece of their election campaign. As the current SVG government, most notably its Prime Minister, has been vehemently against such a scheme, the response of the people to that issue will most likely generate the outcome of the next election in November 2025.

While the Opposition has extensively detailed the protective measures that it intends to install in such a program, should it be victorious, the fact that each and every one of the five East Caribbean states that offer such schemes have suffered from systemic corruption, unhealthy dependence upon the fees generated, their inability to control sales agents abroad, the granting of passports to unsuitable ( e.g. criminal) applicants, and many more political, social and economic problems than can be summarized here. The country's PM is a wise man; he has seen how lucrative CBI programs elsewhere have the propensity to corrupt government at its very core, and encourage dangerous foreign actors. The MSR Media RICO lawsuit is only one example of what can, and will, go wrong, with two programs that have been infected with greed and corruption (St. Kitts and St. Lucia), and refuse to engage in meaningful reform.

We humbly suggest that the voters of Saint Vincent choose wisdom over abject greed and promises of billions of dollars in potential revenue to their government. There are, at present, no clean programs, and unless that actually happens, they should not join the chaos, please. Of course, given the rapid movement in the East Caribbean this year to expose the rampant corruption, the situation a year hence may be radically different than it is today. Will some EC programs be terminated? Will others then be reformed, after bad actors are indicted? The future of CBI is not by any means assured; let Saint Vincent wait and see what happens in 2025.

CONVICTED FORMER BVI PREMIER ANDREW FAHIE'S APPELLATE ATTORNEY RESIGNS, COURT APPOINTS NEW COUNSEL

Appellate attorney Richard Della Fera, who assisted convicted former British Virgin Islands Premier ANDREW FAHIE, with sentencing, including travel to Tortola, BVI to obtain character references, and who later appeared in support of his client at his sentencing, has withdrawn from Fahie's appeal to the Eleventh Circuit. The stated reason was Fahie's inability to pay his fee, which might indicate that the former leader's broad BVI community support quickly evaporated after a jury found him guilty on multiple accounts. The BOP website has estimated his release date as July 24, 2033, just sort of a decade that he will be spending in Federal Prison, on money laundering and cocaine trafficking charges. More than two years ago, Fahie pledged to clean up the Caribbean archipelago’s reputation as a tax haven, by making its opaque corporate records public. He was sentenced to 135 months of incarceration for his crimes.

The Court has appointed an attorney to represent him, meaning that the United States will now be paying for his future legal representation. Fahie's arrest and conviction is known to have had a major impact upon senior government leaders in the Caribbean, who had previously thought that they were immune from being charged with corruption in the United States, due to international political considerations. The sting conducted upon Fahie has made many Caribbean leaders uneasy, and some are afraid to conduct their usual "Quid pro Quo" borderline business dealings, for fear that they will be next in the dock in a Miami courtroom. Only time will tell if they have reason to fear new threats from their Northern neighbor.

CHART OF HAMAS-AFFILIATES IN EUROPE BY ELNET

ELNET is the European leadership network . https://elnetwork.eu

TERRORIST FINANCING IN LEBANON UNDER SIEGE

Global media covering the war between Hezbollah and Israel is focusing mainly on the military aspects of the conflict, while those of us in the world of AML/CFT compliance are seeing little or no coverage of the financial side of the situation. Given that one of the participants is a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Organization (SDGT), we are required to have all the information available at our disposal, to discharge our responsibilities, which has become difficult, in what has become more or less a major gap in information from Lebanon. I assume that reporting these facts is not something that the Government of Lebanon wants to become widely known; their prized banking sector, already in dire straits, could implode, losing whatever luster it still has left.

I accurately predicted, back in 2016, that the next Lebanon War involving the 2006 adversaries would directly impact the country's valuable financial sector. The reports which have emerged paint a bleak picture:

(1) Israel has attacked the branches of the principal (US sanctioned) Lebanese bank that directly services Hezbollah, effectively stopping salary payments to rank-and-file street level terrorists.

(2) Many of the owners of the principal Lebanese banks that indirectly provided financial support to Hezbollah have fled the country, fearing that they would be themselves targeted by Israel, and/or be pressured to assist a Hezbollah in desperate need of cash, now that Al-Qard al-Hasan (AQAH), is not operating. Remember that HAMAS looted the Gaza banks when israel invaded that Territory.

(3) There are reports that Israel has warned Lebanon that any aircraft suspected of engaging in bulk cash smuggling operations, and flying into Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport from Iran, will not be permitted to land, and will be attacked.

(4) There is a complete and total lack of information regarding which Beirut banks still remain open, due to the attacks launched by Israel into the capital's downtown area. Whether Hezbollah has physically co-opted any financial institutions is unknown, but prudent risk management requires that we assume the worst; take all funds transfer instructions from Lebanon as suspect, and possibly made under duress.

When more relevant information becomes available, we shall update our readers forthwith.

INDICTMENTS OF CORRUPT ANTIGUAN LEADERS IN REVIVAL OF AIR PEACE MONEY LAUNDERING CASE IN THE UNITED STATES APPEAR TO BE IMMINENT AFTER SUPERSEDING INDICTMENT FILED IN ATLANTA

PM Gaston Browne

While legal observers wait to see which former, or even current, senior government officials in Saint Kitts, and in Saint Lucia, end up being indicted in the United States for their role in the fraud, money laundering and corruption scandal involving Citizenship by Investment passport sales, it looks like other East Caribbean leaders may very well end up in the dock in an American courtroom first. Remember the 2019 Money laundering case against AIR PEACE CEO ALLEN ONYEMA, who was charged with laundering tens of millions of dollars into the US, employing a bogus airliner Letter of Credit purchasing scheme? There have been major new developments in Atlanta in that $20m money laundering and bank fraud case.

The US Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia has just filed a Superseding indictment against Onyema and one other defendant, on greatly expanded charges, and all indications are that there will be defendants named in another criminal matter, due to Onyema's alleged close relationship to Antigua Prime Minister Gaston Browne and his Cabinet, a number of who are allegedly also implicated in major financial crimes. The role of Onyema in the rebirth of the troubled regional airline LIAT has potential implications not only Antigua's leaders, but certain other bad actors in positions of government in a number of the other East Caribbean states, who might also be named.

We wonder how many Caribbean leaders are having trouble sleeping this week?

CHINESE CENSORS BLOCKED PUBLICATION OF "THE LAUNDRY MAN" BUT YOU CAN STILL FIND A WAY TO READ IT, GENTLEMEN

When my autobiography "The Laundry Man" was first published in the UK, there were efforts made to make it available around the globe, so that compliance officers could take a unique look deep inside the dark and dangerous world of the career money launderer. As you may know, it is widely available in several European languages, through local publishers, but the Peoples' Republic of China's censors refused to allow it to be printed there in Simplified Chinese.

I am bringing this up in 2024, because there is now widespread interest in my story inside China, most likely due to my continuing coverage of the CBI/CIP scandals in the East Caribbean, and the MSR Media RICO lawsuit, which have focused attention on CARIBBEAN GALAXY GROUP and HENG SHENG DEVELOPMENT, two Chinese companies alleged to have been involved in a multi-billion dollar fraud in the Caribbean.

Not a problem; the Chinese language edition has long been available in electronic format, notwithstanding PRC efforts to keep it out of Mainland China and of course, there is always the English-language version. Those of you in Hong Kong and Chongqing, please take note.

CRUCIAL EVIDENCE OF FRAUD AND MONEY LAUNDERING IN SAINT LUCIA'S CIP PROGRAM SCHEDULED FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE NEXT WEEK

Readers who have been following the unfolding developments in the Saint Lucia Citizenship by Investment (CIP) passport sales scandal, can take advantage of advance warning that crucial damaging evidence of fraud and money laundering in that program is scheduled to be disclosed next week on DBS Saint Lucia Television, during Lissa Joseph's upcoming weekly interview program..That evidence is also scheduled to be delivered to the European Union and the United States Treasury. Damning incriminating information, implicating CIU head McClaude Emmanuel, Deputy PM Ernest Hilaire, and Prime Minister Philip Pierre, is to be presented at her interview program. A senior government minister has contributed and provided significant information about the PM, DPM Hilaire and CIU leader Emmanuel. We note that CIU insiders also provided information about the misconduct of these named senior SLC government leaders.

 A substantial amount of this important information will corroborate the fact that McClaude, Hilaire and even Prime Minister Pierre, had full knowledge of, and participated in, the fraudulent conduct wherein illegally-discounted citizenships were offered, sold, processed and issued, complete with passports.

PM Pierre openly admitted that he will continue to support both Caribbean Galaxy and Bemax, and stated that he intends to protect the actions of Deputy PM Hilaire, who leads the CIU, and allows the agency to process and approve the illegal applications. He has full knowledge of the situation. The Prime Minister is saying that so long at the Government gets government fees, he will ignore the fact that Galaxy is receiving passport sales funds outside the country, effectively breaking the requirements of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOU) that he signed. So long as the Government gets its $20,000 fee, he ignores the fact that Galaxy sells under the legal price of $200,000, as specified in the Memorandum of Agreement, with the other Caribbean nations. The senior minister who has supplied substantial information, and who has confirmed that the PM tacitly supports the illegal passport sales operation,  has stated that he is shocked by his conduct; the Cabinet is reportedly seeking to learn his identity.

 The Prime Minister has a sworn fiduciary duty to his constituents. His refusal to protect the integrity of the banking system will be fully exposed next week. A senior minister has confirmed that the general policy of the Pierre Administration is to get cash quickly, and that it doesn't matter if the CIP program, crashes later. The release of this evidence will create a shakeup in the country's financial system next weekend, including in the Cabinet, and at the Bank of Saint Lucia,  eventually crashing the CIP and exposing the role of the bank in the Chinese money laundering scandal. BOSL's correspondent bank, TD Bank, was recently sanctioned and heavily fined by regulators

A final note: today on Spin News, Rick Wayne, Saint Lucia's most prominent journalist,  warned that he already had access to key information that will have a devastating effect, when released next week.