SOLDIER IN VIETNAM TO URBAN LAWYER TO CAREER MONEY LAUNDERER

 

This is how THE ILLICIT EDGE, where I recently was interviewed about my career, interpreted my life story. You can watch the video version of my podcast here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiXmVhZzjvk&t=2021s

U.S. RELEASES $4bn MONEY LAUNDERER IN EXCHANGE FOR AMERICAN TEACHER HELD IN RUSSIA; AGAIN SENDING THE WRONG MESSAGE TO THE WORLD'S LAUNDRYMEN

Once again, the United States trades a major convicted criminal for some hapless American dumb enough to be caught inside Russia with anything that passes for contraband. Why our government, which says it has a policy of never negotiating with terrorists, allows itself to get roped into giving up career criminals for someone arrested abroad by a dictatorship for the express purpose of swapping him for someone they want back, I'll never know.

The next time someone considers travel to Iran, Russia, Venezuela or China, perhaps they might consider that they might very well become a hostage to a tyrant's whims or needs. Let's stop losing our convicted and imprisoned bad actors, going free because of a mistake of one of our own, who travels to a high-risk jurisdiction, and thinks it's O.K. to do so.

CHINA'S BILLION DOLLAR RIPOFF OF SAINT KITTS & NEVIS HAS BILLY HERBERT TURNING OVER IN HIS GRAVE

If you are old enough to have personally known Saint Kitts Ambassador Plenipotentiary William (Billy) V. Herbert, Jr., you know that he was a champion of elevating the standard of living of the average Kittitian; that was an integral part of his political philosophy. To do that, he created his newly-independent nation's Citizenship by Investment (CBI) sales program. His scheme was to sell second passports to narcotics traffickers, drug money launderers like yours truly during that period, and any other of the Usual Suspects who needed a new identity to evade the long arm of American law enforcement. He knew that America was in the midst of a cocaine consumption frenzy, and believed that he would use that hunger to uplift a depressed island economy, and benefit all its citizens, which was the goal of his People's Action Movement (PAM).

Now, however, had he lived to see his beloved country in 2025, he would he distressed to see that a Chinese company, CARIBBEAN GALAXY, with the aid and assistance of corrupt officials more interested in feathering their own nests, rather than helping the people who elected them, has literally stolen billions of their patrimony, through his beloved CBI. Billy is most likely looking on from his cement grave, with strong disapproval and even disgust, as the current SKN Labour leadership, cowing to Chinese demands and undue influence, has facilitated the theft of not only billions of US Dollars, but the country as well, to the PRC. They have ignored "Country Above Self" in favor of selling out for bribes & kickbacks.

In Saint Kitts what we call Karma often rears its ugly head, dispensing accountability when it is least expected. Billy's untimely end is itself testimony to that. You can expect to see blind justice play out in the Caribbean, gentlemen, so don't expect your final days to be spent living in the lap of luxury in Miami; Watch for it.

SOUTH AFRICA IS MISSING FROM 2025 LIST OF TOP TEN AFRICAN COUNTRIES WITH HIGHEST MONEY LAUNDERING RISK; IS THAT A MISTAKE ?

The much-cited BASEL AML INDEX has South Africa at 52 out of 100, in its calculation of money laundering risk levels, which are based upon a number of basic issues, such as weak regulatory frameworks, political instability, and cash-driven economies have made the continent a hotspot for illicit financial activities. However, although much has been made of the country's strengthened AML legislation, its failure to zealously pursue money laundering networks, rampant money laundering due to corruption, and a number of other factors, which we shall discuss at the upcoming Africa Financial Crime seminar, which place it squarely in the category of highest risk for money laundering on the Continent

Basel should have considered all the relevant issues, some of which are unique to South Africa among all the countries surveyed, before making the call that it was not to be placed at the forefront of those nations in its region. Learn what additional factors place it there.

Please join us: 

https://titc.io/kenneth-rijock-webinar-africa-special

WATCH KEN RIJOCK ON THE ILLICIT EDGE PODCAST. DESIGNATED: THE LAUNDRY MAN

My recent podcast on THE ILLICIT EDGE was also filmed; you can see it here on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiXmVhZzjvk&t=2021s

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-laundry-man-ken-rijock-designated/id1770788854?i=1000691073841

ONE CANNOT WIN THE WAR AGAINST MONEY LAUNDERING WITH CLOCK-PUNCHERS AND BOX-CHECKERS

AML/CFT is not a job; it must be a calling for compliance officers assigned to Account Opening and Transaction Monitoring. It is not for people who scurry out of the office at the official close of business, with that urgent, time-sensitive matter left on their desks; it is definitely not for those who pass a borderline suspicious transaction, just to move on to the large pile which some non-compliance officer is urging that they complete before five o'clock rolls around, because a certain account executive wants to open those new accounts pronto.

Anti-money laundering is never a chore; it should be considered a daily challenge to be fought, something close to being fun, while understanding that it is a serious task, but performed with a zeal that only one devoted to that profession can muster up. Every day, joust against the laundrymen, by exposing them; take their actions out in the sunlight,and either shut them down, or make your bank a place where they fear to tread, lest they be caught in the act.

I realize, as a former career money launderer, I regard AML as nothing short of an adventure in intellectual stimulation; others may find it mundane or stressful, but I relish those challenges. Make sure that those individuals who lead your compliance department also see it as a duty. Be the resolute gatekeeper, pushing back against the money laundering darkness, ladies & gentlemen.

TURKEYS' BOOMING COUNTERFEIT DESIGNER GOODS FACTORIES PROVIDE A PERFECT COVER FOR NARCOTICS TRAFFICKERS EMPLOYING TBML INTO AND OUT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Turkey, whose covert counterfeit goods factories produce massive number of fakes of designer goods, at a level just behind those of Mainland China and Hong Kong, gives Europe-based drug traffickers the perfect tool in which to embed their narco-profits for repatriation abroad. Clever counterfeiters mix their exported fakes amidst a small amount of the genuine products, and by invoicing all of it at the wholesale rate for the real thing, can then drop their EU profits into the billing, disguised as simply payments for goods sold and delivered. Cooperative importers play along for a piece of the action, and succeed due to the volume of goods in international trade EU to TURKEY to EU.

While we understand EU inspectors can catch some of the bogus shipments in transit, the lion's share most certainly escape interdiction, in part due to corruption. EU law enforcement agencies would do well to compare invoices on inbound goods shipments from Turkey to Member states with the actual items delivered. It's just a clever permutation on traditional Trade-Based Money Laundering, but it works exceedingly well.

NOMINEE FOR FBI DIRECTOR OWNS A MAJOR INTEREST IN A CHINESE FAST FASHION COMPANY

if you failed to read our article published on Saturday, February 8, 2025, entitled MPE+TBML=MONEY LAUNDERING THROUGH FAST FASHION https://lnkd.in/eryih9dW you are advised to review it before continuing here. According to major media reports, KASHYAP PATEL, a/k/a KA$H PATEL, the current administration's nominee for Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) holds stock in a Cayman Islands investment firm that appears to be a holding company, ELITE DEPOT LTD.,which has a controlling interest in the Chinese fast fashion company, SHEIN. Patel listed that ownership, with an estimated value of between one and five million dollars, on a financial disclosure form. Shein has been named as a company allegedly employing forced labor in its fabrication of clothing for foreign markets.

While our article detailed how Mexican Fast Fashion companies launder narcotics profits for the cartels, such entities based in China are also alleged to be receiving, and cleaning, drug profits, and funneling them to the Cartels in Latin America, together with fentanyl and other controlled substances. US origin payments to China-based Fast Fashion could be easily employed through Trade-based Money Laundering techniques to transfer a wide variety of illicit funds, including for the financing of terrorism.

There is no indication that Patel intends to divest himself of this stock, creating ethical as well as Conflict of Interest issues, in the event he is confirmed as FBI Director, which could require him to supervise a criminal investigation of a company which he has an interest in. We are unaware of how he was able to acquire such a substantial interest in the Cayman investment company.

ALLEGATIONS OF PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT IN CASE AGAINST POLITICALLY-CONNECTED SOUTH AFRICAN DIAMOND DEALER ACCUSED OF R4bn FRAUD AND MONEY LAUNDERING SCHEME AS TRIAL NOW SCHEDULED FOR JULY IN 2024 ARREST

An investigation is reportedly underway into what is being described as "preferential treatment" afforded to SA diamond merchant LOUIS LIEBENBERG, who is accused of defrauding investors of the equivalent of USD$200m, due to his alleged close relationship with his country's former president. There are forty-two counts pending against him and his wife, including racketeering, money laundering, fraud, and theft, and their trial has been pushed off to July. He has been referred to by his victims as a diamond scam kingpin. Some of the minor co-defendants have already been granted bond.

Both defendants remain in police custody; is the South African Police Service extending courtesies to them, due to their political connections? bond hearings for them appear to have now been scheduled. The case has stirred public anger since their arrest due to strong public sentiment concerning favoritism allegedly afforded wealthy white-collar defendants in South Africans.

BMPE+TBML=MONEY LAUNDERING THROUGH FAST FASHION

If you were wondering why US law enforcement pulled off a major raid of Los Angeles-area clothing wholesalers last year, here's why. FAST FASHION, the sale of cheap copies of the latest fashion trends, manufactured quickly in Mexico, and sold to hungry young American consumers, is a cash cow for retailers. The fact that its manufacture is also an environmental nightmare appears to be irrelevant to all the participants involved, but compliance officers in Los Angeles know that it is a clear and present danger to their banks.

The fast-moving pace of transactions between American fashion houses and Mexican clothing manufacturers, acting to capitalize on short-term fashion trends, masks the illicit movement of narco-profits earned in the US to Mexico, where it is eventually delivered to the cartels converted to Peso form, thereby evading Mexican restrictions on the conversion of US Dollars into local currency. Some experts refer to it as a variation on the Black Market Peso Exchange well all know, but with a twist; there's no retailer at the southern end needing greenbacks to buy US goods. the transactions appear to simply be American company payments to Mexican factories for fast fashion. Piggy-backing additional Dollars to wire transfers, and then diverting the difference to Cartel financiers smack of Trade Based Money Laundering, so I must call it an amalgam of both BMPE and TBMl to be accurate.

If you are a compliance officer at ANY American financial institution whose clients purchase goods from Mexico, you will want to check to see whether the funds headed south, through your bank, are in excess of the purchase price of the goods being bought. You should expect that it's not only fashion companies that are pulling this trick. Watch for it.

DEBRA GEISTER GOT IT RIGHT; MONEY LAUNDERING IS INDEED A TESSERACT

Deb's recent statement, that money laundering techniques have indeed expanded beyond the traditional three-step diagram, is spot on. Indeed, the only way one can now describe it is to liken it to a TESSERACT, a representation of a four-dimensional cube, to approach what is a complex operation with many facets, some of which are designed to confuse and mislead, and others set to allow the user to arrive at his or her destination successfully, without being caught by either vigilant compliance officers, or law enforcement. A conundrum without a solution.

Speaking Truth to Power.

Perhaps we need to take a whole new approach to AML/CFT, as what we are doing now is akin to people living and working in a two dimensional system, while the laundrymen are operating in three- and four dimensions. There are multiple AML perspectives pushing back against mysteries that are often on a much higher plane. Almost forty years after the passage of the Money Laundering Control Act, compliance officers are still playing catch-up with their opponents. When will next generation technology finally level the playing field, as we cannot outthink the money launderers, who are constantly adapting and improvising in real-time, while compliance plods along, fighting last year's war this year. Compliance is playing checkers, on the laundrymen's chessboard. Who will invent the perfect AML platform, and when?

THE UK MUST NOW TAKE OFF THE GLOVES AND IMPOSE AN ORDER IN COUNCIL UPON THE THE ROGUE BVI, FOR ITS REPEATED REFUSAL TO DISCLOSE BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP

If you are like me, when you see a British Virgin Islands-registered company, you immediately, and correctly, assume the worst: money laundering, tax evasion at home, fraud, or even possible terrorist financing. That's because of the damn stubborn insistence of BVI authorities to open their corporation database to public inquiry. All the possible scenarios, ostensibly compromises, that the BVI has offered the UK on BOI allow bad actors to escape identification, move their illicit assets, or otherwise evade justice and accountability. This must stop, forthwith.

I personally regard the place as a Den of Legal Vipers, having flown into Road Town many times in my misspent youth to pick up multiple SHELF COMPANIES on the fly, for my narco-clients. It must now be the subject of an ORDER IN COUNCIL, which for the non-lawyers is an effective Royal statutory instrument, rarely used against British Overseas Territories, but sorely needed here, to clean up this legal obscenity which has facilitated financial crime for far too long.

There's a reason Mossack & Fonseca preferred BVI companies to their own Panamanian: total and absolute opacity. This needs to end, right now. The question is whether the British Government has the intestinal fortitude to issue one. I have my doubts, ladies & gentlemen; prove me wrong.

BELGIUM-BASED HIND RAJAB FOUNDATION SUPPORTS HAMAS AND HEZBOLLAH

Here is the latest special report on the organization,  dated January 2025:

https://www.gov.il/en/pages/special_report_hrf_foundation_2025-01

NEW DOJ POLICY ON THE FOREIGN AGENTS REGISTRATION ACT WILL RESULT IN FEW PROSECUTIONS

If you read the fine print in yesterday's GENERAL POLICY REGARDING CHARGING, PLEA NEGOTIATIONS AND SENTENCING, you now know that FARA prosecutions will only occur when there's an actual element of espionage involved. the vast majority of Foreign Agents Registration Act cases during the past decade definitely do NOT involve the gathering of intelligence, espionage or anything close to spying.

What the new AG memorandum will accomplish we cannot say, but you can forget about seeing new FARA indictments, in my humble opinion. Of course, the political aspect of declining to charge American businessmen with FARA violations, when they neglect to file, one cannot ignore, Take a close look at who has been charged in recent years, if you miss my meaning.

IN LIGHT OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AT DOJ, YOU MAY WANT TO READ THIS ARTICLE FROM 2020, AS MANY HAVE CHOSEN TO ACCESS IT THIS WEEK

I was asking a lot of questions about the outcome of UNITED STATES vs. ALI SADR HASHEMINEJAD back then; it bothered me at that time, and remains a mystery today to most legal observers.

https://rijock.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-us-attorney-working-behind-scenes.html

SOUTH AFRICAN BANKS FACE UNIQUE TERRORIST FINANCING THREATS

If you happen to be a compliance professional in South Africa, responsible for AML/CFT, you should be aware that your country's banks, as well as nonbank financial institutions (NBFI) face terrorist financing threats on a level higher than those that exist elsewhere. The fact is, a number of specially designated global terrorist entities, as well as entities that feed funding to those internationally-sanctioned organizations, are not sanctioned or prohibited there. In truth and in fact, some are tolerated or even welcomed for political or social reasons.

Given that financial institutions function on a global scale, when they even unwittingly conduct transactions which facilitate terrorist organizations, even indirectly, they risk consequences from those Western countries that maintain sanctions against them. These include taking action against local branches or subsidiaries located abroad, regulatory action imposing civil fines and penalties upon such entities abroad, up to and including the complete blocking of access to critical financial centers or currencies in the most serious cases. This could occur, even though there are no existing legal obstacles to processing such financial transactions within South Africa.

It is incumbent upon compliance officers working in South Africa to be aware of the specific entities which could damage their bank or their clients, in the event that regulatory agencies abroad determine that terrorist financing impacting their national interest, occurred or originated within the South African financial community. As this information is obviously of a sensitive nature, and not generally suitable for publication, it will be detailed at the upcoming TITC seminar "UNMASKING AFRICA'S FINANCIAL UNDERWORLD," on February 19 and 20. You are urged to attend this important event, as an important component of your responsibilities to counter the financing of terrorism, and to reduce your level of risk.

For further information:

https://titc.io/kenneth-rijock-webinar-africa-special

PLANNING ON MOVING TO YOUR NEW ECONOMIC PASSPORT COUNTRY IN THE FUTURE? YOU HAD BETTER HIRE ARMED SECURITY TO PREVENT YOUR POSSIBLE MURDER IN THE STREET WHILE SHOPPING

One of the primary reasons offered up by the "Investment Migration" or economic passport consultancies is the availability of your new country as a potential place for you to reside, especially if increased taxes, political instability, war, or even natural disasters, occur in your home country. Consider this a blunt warning, if you are considering moving your family to any of the five East Caribbean states that offer CBI/CIP programs, because in many cases, it's just plain dangerous to live there, due to increased crime, especially homicides, taking place there.

The current homicide rate in the United States, per 100,000 people is 6.3; in the UK it is 9.7. If you choose to relocate to SAINT KITTS, or to SAINT LUCIA, the two most popular CBI choices pushed lately by the largest passport vendors in Dubai, the rate is ten times those figures. Additionally, homicide rates in those two island nations has spiked even more in the last year and a half. If you thought Haiti was dangerous, look at the statistics for the East Caribbean states. Read the local newspapers of St. Kitts & St. Lucia online if you don't believe me.

You and your family might be in the local market, when a pair of the local chronically unemployed youth involved in drug trafficking choose to resolve their territorial disputes in the street, and you become collateral damage. In other countries, you might have survived due to prompt and effective medical attention, but here in the East Caribbean there's no ambulance speeding to your rescue, and you die on the scene. What will your family do now? They are far from home, without your guidance and support.

Please, ignore that drivel coming from the passport sales consultancies,a and DO NOT consider relocating to that sunny Caribbean isle. There is an undercurrent of danger there which your passport salesman will not tell you about, and I can tell you from personal experience that wearing a bulletproof vest in the tropics is not something you want to do by choice.