WILL AMERICAN REGULATORS WARN OUR BANKS ABOUT HAMAS TERRORIST FINANCING TRADECRAFT LIKE THE SWISS HAVE NOW DONE?

When will the many American government agencies that regulate our banks, trust companies  credit unions and fund managers send a notice to all of them, detailing the various methods that HAMAS has been using to finance its operations,through its American fundraisers, like the Swiss Police just did with their banks. The notice should include, but not be limited to, the commonly-used methods, such as "humanitarian aid," aid to bogus charities in the region, payment for phantom goods never delivered, and other suspicious techniques known to be employed. Don't forget cyber currency, either.

If the Swiss believe that such a direct method is necessary, then should the United States, as well as the UK and the EU not do the same? Our regulators must convince the American financial industry to be vigilant, for most certainly US-based Hamas fundraisers are being pressured from the Middle East to remit additional payments for the the global terrorist organization.  Let's see something on Monday, and not six months from now, please.

NOTE FOR COMPLIANCE OFFICERS IN SWITZERLAND

The ACAMS Switzerland Chapter is excited to host a forthcoming webinar featuring Kenneth Rijock, a former Banking lawyer turned-career money launderer (10 years), turned compliance officer specializing in Enhanced Due Diligence, and Financial Crime Consultant. 

 

In 1980s Miami, Ken Rijock was the middleman between the Colombians and the domestic cartels flooding America's streets with cocaine. Every Friday, carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars in a tattered suitcase, he would fly by private jet to a tax haven in the Caribbean. Rijock's operation was responsible for 'cleaning' over $200 million of dirty cash. And all the time he was in love with a cop. It finally came crashing down when a client testified against him. He agreed to go undercover for the DEA, and he now works with banks and governments to track the new generation of money launderers. Like Frank Abagnale's "Catch Me If You Can" and Howard Marks' "Mr Nice", "The Laundry Man" is the remarkable story of an ordinary man caught up in an extraordinary life.

 

As a practicing “laundryman” and globe trotter, Kenneth certainly has many stories to share, and we are keen on getting his views on the AML efforts and new ways found to launder money. 

 

Attendees can anticipate a lively educational session, providing professionals with a refreshing view on the complex AML field. Don’t forget to check Kenneth’s blog and https://rijock.blogspot.com/   

December 6, 2023

5:00PM - 6:00PM CET/GMT+1

December 6, 2023

ACAMS Switzerland Chapter Dec 2023 Virtual Event: Reformed money launderer: Interview with Kenneth Rijock, author of “The Laundry Man”

Date:  DECEMBER 6,  2023 @ 5:00-6:00 PM CET. 1 ACAMS credit.

December 6, 2023

5:00PM - 6:00PM CET/GMT+1

Online

1 ACAMS Credits 6, 2023

5:00PM - 6:00PM CET/GMT+1

Online

1 ACAMS Credits:00PM - 6:00PM CET/GMT+1

Online

1 ACAMS Credits

1 ACAMS Credits

SUMMARY OF FISA ABUSES PUBLISHED BY THE BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE

 

DECEPTION IS SECOND NATURE TO TERRORISTS AS WELL AS MONEY LAUNDERERS

Taken from today's Times of Israel:

"The Shin Bet also releases quotes from the interrogation of several Hamas members who took part in the October 7 onslaught and were captured.

“Al-Qassam has its own ambulances, some of which are located on the military base. The appearance of the ambulances is similar to the civilian ambulances so that they will not arouse suspicion or be bombed by Israel,” says one Hamas terrorist.

Another Hamas terrorist says that “during combat, the ambulances are used, among other things, to evacuate fighters, commanders and operatives. They also transport food, cargo and weapons in them because that is the safest way to transport them.”'

Money launderers successfully employ the tactics of deception daily, and they fool compliance officers most of the time. What you assumed was a foreign financial institution with a name you recognize, and therefore assign a low-risk designation to, is in truth and in fact a shell company with a name in which only one letter, or even punctuation or font, has been cleverly changed, resulting in "skim milk [legally] masquerading as cream."

My narcotics trafficking clients were able to smuggle drugs into the Continental United States by placing the contraband within steel tubes that purported to be safety devices carried upon sailboats, complete with instructional placards and bogus registered trademark markings. They were never identified by US Customs, because they were hiding in plain sight, and they appeared to be something one might expect to see. The best tools and implements of deception are accepted as the real McCoy by everyone who sees them.

A good money launderer takes well-known symbols of legitimate commerce, such as financial institutions, multinational and Fortune 500 companies, and artfully (and some might say magically) alters one tiny aspect, so that a shell company with no brick-and-mortar existence becomes a paragon of the business world, instantly seen by bankers as one to be not only trusted, but welcomed due to the prospect of lucrative future business. I have seen bankers be impressed with just an establishment name, which in reality was merely smoke-and-mirrors posing as the genuine article.

Therefore, compliance officers who are exposed to such icons of the international business world are cautioned to trust but verify, as President Reagan once remarked. Check outlisted street addresses, telephone numbers, and especially emails, to see that they are the one and the same as the ones publicly listed. Otherwise, you too may fall victim to money launderers' Tactics of Deception.

ADDITIONAL LINKS BETWEEN MALTA'S CORRUPT RULING LABOUR PARTY AND SUHA ARAFAT EMERGE

                                                               

According to our reliable Maltese sources, there exists a close relationship between Palestinian Authority's resident pseudo-ambassador and Suha Arafat, which we have detailed in our most recent article on the subject,* the widow of the former leader of the Palestinian Authority (PA) receives a stipend of USD$12,000 from the PA, which she had publicly admitted to. Other sources have accused her of having no less than $50,000 a month transferred to her.  The PA is also known to be paying her monthly rent on a lavish residence in an upscale neighborhood. None of this are the customary benefits doled out to the widows of PA government officials.

We do not know which Maltese bank holds her funds; most bankers that we have queried know that none of the branches of reputable foreign banks would accept her, given the allegations that her late husband stole literally billions of US Dollars, sent as aid money to the Palestinian Authority, and placed his ill-gotten gains in Swiss banks, from where it ended up in her accounts in Paris, and was under French investigation. Some have alleged that the Bank of Valletta, which is partly government-owned, holds her accounts, but we are unable to confirm this. She remains a Politically Exposed Person, or PEP. It is also alleged in international media that she stole land, but again there is no publicly-available information as to where it was located.

The Maltese investigative reported DAPHNE CARUANA GALIZIA, later assassinated for exposing rampant corruption in Malta, had a definite opinion about Suha's residence there:

"Suha Arafat is finding life in Malta unbearable. She cannot live the life of the diaspora any more and wants to go ‘home’. Every day since Yasser Arafat died she feels “boredom and daily sadness”. How much worse it would have been without those missing millions. I’m not one to speak against immigrants, but this is one immigrant we can really do without. The racist groups urge us to turn away dying people in boats because they might include terrorists. About the terrorist who flew in by private jet wearing a chequered shawl round his head, to be warmly kissed by Maltese politicians from both sides of the house, they had nothing to say. About the terrorist’s widow who was given permission to reside in Malta after being chased away by other states they have even less to say. Oh well, as long as she brought his ill-gotten millions with her….."

Under the circumstances, any normal government would promptly extradite her back to Tunisia, where she has been wanted for corruption for fifteen years, freeze her accounts, and deport her daughter, who is approximately 27 years of age, but Malta's Labour government, which is closely associated to the PA "diplomatic" staff, has given her what we can only describe as VIP treatment. She remains a symbol of Middle East corruption, now immune from justice in the Republic of Malta.

___________________________________________

* Gaza Conflict draws attention once again to Suha Arafat, Wanted in Tunisia for Corruption, living openly in Malta with all that Stolen Cash from Palestine  (November 6, 2023).

TO BE EFFECTIVE, A COMPLIANCE OFFICER MUST POSSESS CULTURAL LITERACY; THIS REQUIRES AN UNDERGRADUATE LIBERAL ARTS EDUCATION

                                            

We note that an article in the Sunday New York Times discussed how some colleges are moving away from liberal arts degrees, towards more vocational majors, arguing that students must have the tools to find real jobs after graduation. While that is a fact of life in the business world, I would argue that, at least in the compliance field that I live in, an undergraduate degree is not only preferable as preparation for a compliance career, it is mandatory, if you really want to be effective in ferreting out money launderers, financial criminals and terrorist financiers.

Compliance officers MUST be culturally literate. They must posses a broad-based undergraduate education, paired with AML/CFT training of course, in order to understand the complex legitimate world in which financial transactions operate. A good knowledge of history, geography ( especially political geography), commercial law, and a number of other important subjects can only be acquired through a university education that allows one to participate in the wide range of subjects that result in Cultural Literacy, which has been defined thus:

Cultural literacy is a term coined by American educator and literary critic E. D. Hirsch, referring to the ability to understand and participate fluently in a given culture. Cultural literacy is an analogy to literacy proper (the ability to read and write letters). A literate reader knows the object-language's alphabet, grammar, and a sufficient set of vocabulary; a culturally literate person knows a given culture's signs and symbols, including its language, particular dialectic, stories,^[1] entertainment, idioms, idiosyncrasies, and so on. The culturally literate person is able to talk to and understand others of that culture with fluency. (Wikpedia)

Yes, of course to be effective there must be extensive AML/CFT training at some point. It is especially important that such training include instruction in Money Laundering Tradecraft, the advanced techniques that are in constant use, and which I have been attempting to convey to our readers here in articles for decades, but a basic grounding in a number of important subjects, which can only occur through a liberal arts education, is a must to understand the complex world in which educated money launderers themselves successfully and consistently operate. I can literally teach anyone Money Laundering Tradecraft in two intensive days, but cultural literacy requires four years of a broad-based liberal arts education in advance of such practical training.

GAZA CONFLICT DRAWS ATTENTION ONCE AGAIN TO SUHA ARAFAT, WANTED IN TUNISIA FOR CORRUPTION, LIVING OPENLY IN MALTA WITH ALL THAT STOLEN CASH FROM PALESTINE

We note that local media in the Republic of Malta has been interviewing SUHA ARAFAT, the widow of the late leader of the PLO, YASSER ARAFAT, who is alleged to have stolen between three and five billion US Dollars from aid money his organization received while he presided over the Palestine Liberation Organization. In truth and in fact, Ms. Arafat has been a fugitive from justice in Tunisia for fifteen years, accused of corruption there by the authorities, but evading extradition to date through her political connections in Malta, who allow her to maintain a residence there. 

When she lived the high life in Paris, Ms. Arafat reportedly diverted the equivalent of fifteen million Dollars from PLO funds held in Switzerland, according to reports from an investigation conducted by the French Government. How much of that money remains in Maltese banks is not known, because Suha was known to spend huge amounts of money on interior decoration while living in France. Her Tunisian arrest warrant is due to corruption charges arising out of schools that she owned an interest in, coupled with her relationship to Tunisia's former national leader, who was himself ousted for rampant corruption.

Arafat, who was given Maltese citizenship by the Labour Party, lives in one of the most exclusive areas in malta, in a town known as Madilena, in a villa worth many millions of Euros. She is driven around town by a chauffeur. Their daughter attended the University of Malta for her B.A. degree; curiously, her photograph has never been published.

The Maltese Government currently finances the operation of the "Embassy" that the Palestinian Authority maintains in Malta. The structure is a designated historical building in the middle of the Maltese town of Sliema. Unfortunately, it ias been neglected by the occupants, and is literally falling apart. Malta's taxpayers are supporting the high life-style of the resident "Ambassador," The European Union pays the PA over one billion Dollars a year, to support its budget, but most of the money allegedly goes into the pockets of government officials.

 There have never been any legal efforts in Malta to recover any of the stolen funds claimed by Palestinian officials to rightfully belong to the Palestinian People that are in her possession, which in and of itself confirms her level of influence among Malta's ruling Labour Party, including rumors of links to the country's disgraced and fallen former Prime Minister, JOSEPH MUSCAT. It appears that the Maltese Government will allow Arafat to evade justice by residing there indefinitely.    

 

FORMER BARBADOS ATTORNEY GENERAL DAVID SIMMONS, WHO HAS MADE STATEMENTS ABOUT INTEGRITY LEGISLATION, IS HIMSELF A DEFENDANT IN MASSIVE CORRUPTION CASE

There has been extensive press coverage of comments made by DAVID SIMMONS, the present chair of the Turks & Caicos Integrity Commission, regarding the Barbados Integrity in Public Life Bill, but Simmons is himself a defendant in the pending American civil lawsuit brought against 98 current and former Bajan attorneys, alleging organised corruption going back decades. Simmons, who is a former Barbados Attorney General and Chief Justice, has been linked, in the case, to what has been described as a racketeering enterprise among local attorneys, designed to deprive the country's citizens of real estate that they have inherited, through probate and real estate fraud. The style of the case is Mitchell vs. Mottley; it was filed in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court in Florida.

Simmons, who is reportedly a cousin of Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, (also a named defendant) allegedly caused false criminal charges to be filed against a political opponent, resulting in his imprisonment with known murderers, and endangering his life. He also, it is claimed, assigned civil cases to known corrupt members of the judiciary, thus insuring that the true owners of real estate would ultimately be deprived of possession, in coordination with other attorneys also engaged in this widespread illegal operation to place title of valuable Barbados real estate in the hands of avaricious lawyers, who then sold or conveyed that realty to others, including foreign resort operators.

Through the alleged actions of Simmons, and other attorneys, some of whom are now senior Barbados government officials and judges, dozens of Bajans have lost their family inheritance, made penniless, and been unlawfully deprived of assets held for centuries by their kin. Neither the local judiciary, nor the bar association in Barbados, has acted to insure that justice is served, because most of their leaders are also guilty of such sins and transgressions. Only through total reform, initiated from courts outside the country, can meaningful change be implemented. Otherwise, any purchaser of real estate cannot obtain good and marketable title to property, as all deeds are subject to being set aside for fraud, and existing titles are all in danger of being held void ab initio.  

   

WIDESPREAD SUPPORT IN BVI TO GET ARRESTED PREMIER DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY FROM U.S. MONEY LAUNDERING AND DRUG CHARGES IS TROUBLING

Open public support for the BVI government official who brazenly attempted to secure diplomatic immunity for former Premier Andrew Fahie, when he was arrested in the US for money laundering and narcotics trafficking, is extremely disturbing.  NAJAN CHRISTOPHER, who was herself charged in the BVI when she created an official document, then delivered it to defense counsel, asserting that Fahie had diplomatic immunity from criminal prosecution in Florida, has never been brought to trial, and there are actually calls for her to run for major public office.

 This is indicative of a culture where the facilitation of organized crime, principally drug trafficking, is part and parcel of the territory's business model. The BVI corporation, with its built-in anonymity, is a favored vehicle among the world's money launderers, and the financial services industry which relies upon such dodgy clients, supports the territory's budget, which pays the salaries of government officials who might otherwise not be able to find employment in the small private sector. In plain English, global white collar crime, which needs those corporate services to evade detection and possible arrest, feeds the British Virgin Islands. It is the essence of the evils of an offshore tax haven jirisdiction.

For those readers who have not read our previous articles on the subject of the efforts of ex-Premier Fahie's supporters to extricate him from the Miami Federal criminal indictment, officials of a colonial possession of a European have zero diplomatic immunity full stop. The attempts to spring their leader, which have no basis in law, speaks volumes about the territory's raison d'etre .

Eventually, Fahie will go to trial in Miami, and his conviction, given the strength of the evidence against him, and the fact that his two co-defendants are cooperating, is most likely assured, but whether the BVI will ever clean up its corporate regime is doubtful. This means that compliance officers are always to regard BVI companies with suspicion, without exception, and to ramp uo enhanced due diligence when one is part of any transaction.

OFAC SANCTIONS RUSSIAN MONEY LAUNDERER EKATERINA ZHDANOVA MOVING FUNDS INTO WESTERN EUROPE & THE UAE ( $100m+)

               

Treasury Designates Virtual Currency Money Launderer for Russian Elites and Cybercriminals

November 3, 2023

Treasury imposes consequences on money launderer responsible for moving funds on behalf of Russian elites and ransomware actors

WASHINGTON — Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Ekaterina Zhdanova, a Russian national, for her role in laundering and moving funds using virtual currency on behalf of Russian elites. This action is consistent with the G7’s commitment to crack down on sanctions evasion and closing loopholes that allow the Russian state, its elites, proxies, and oligarchs to leverage virtual currency to offset the impact of international sanctions. 

“Through key facilitators like Zhdanova, Russian elites, ransomware groups, and other illicit actors sought to evade U.S. and international sanctions, particularly through the abuse of virtual currency,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. “We remain focused on safeguarding the U.S. and international financial system against those who seek to exploit this technology, among other illicit finance risks in the virtual assets ecosystem.”

ZHDANOVA: A KEY GATEWAY TO THE INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL SYSTEM FOR RUSSIAN ELITES AND RANSOMWARE ACTORS

In response to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, OFAC has imposed expansive economic sanctions on the Russian financial system. In March 2022, Ekaterina Zhdanova (Zhdanova) assisted a Russian client in obfuscating their source of wealth in order to transfer over $2.3 million into Western Europe through a fraudulently opened investment account and real estate purchases. Zhdanova’s services result in the provision of access to Western financial markets for Russian individuals that may otherwise be blocked due to U.S. and international prohibitions. This type of illicit financial activity can be used to evade the multilateral U.S. and international sanctions that impose costs on Russia for its unprovoked war and deny the access of sanctioned Russian individuals and entities to the international financial system.

Zhdanova uses virtual currency to facilitate large cross border transactions.  Zhdanova utilizes entities that lack Anti-Money Laundering/Combatting the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) controls, such as OFAC-designated Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex Europe OU (Garantex). Garantex was designated by OFAC in 2022, pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 14024 for operating or having operated in the financial services sector of the Russian Federation economy. Garantex was known for blatantly disregarding AML/CFT obligations and allowing its platform to be used by illicit actors.  

Zhdanova relies on multiple methods of value transfer to move funds internationally. This includes the use of cash and leveraging connections to other international money laundering associates and organizations. Zhdanova also uses traditional businesses to maintain access to the international financial system, including through a luxury watch company that has offices around the world. 

Zhdanova conducts virtual currency exchange transfers on behalf of oligarchs who have relocated internationally. In one instance, a Russian oligarch sought out Zhdanova to move over $100 million in wealth on their behalf to the United Arab Emirates. Additionally, Zhdanova has facilitated a United Arab Emirates tax residency service for Russian clients, and possibly participated in obfuscating their identities. Through this service, Zhdanova provided clients with United Arab Emirates tax residency, a United Arab Emirates identification card, and a bank account. Payments were alleged to be made in cash or by virtual currency, and to be received at a Dubai bank account, and then transferred from the Dubai bank account to foreign bank accounts at the discretion of the client. A benefit of this service was to create an origin of funds for the client that would be managed from anywhere in the world without additional questions from international authorities.  

Zhdanova also provided services to individuals connected with the Russian Ryuk ransomware group. In 2021, Zhdanova laundered over $2.3 million of suspected victim payments on behalf of a Ryuk ransomware affiliate. Ryuk has been used to target thousands of victims worldwide, including in the United States, across a variety of sectors. In October 2022, U.S. law enforcement specifically identified Ryuk as an imminent and increasing cybercrime threat to hospitals and healthcare providers in the United States.  

Ekaterina Zhdanova is being designated today pursuant to E.O. 14024 for operating or having operated in the financial services sector of the Russian Federation economy.

MONEY LAUNDERING IN OUTER SPACE? NOT A BLOODY THEORY, BUT APPARENTLY ALREADY A FACT

When I was approached recently, to give an interview about the present existence of money laundering in the skies above, and eventually even in outer space, I had to once again put on my practising laundryman hat, and mull over the possibility that such operations are, not just theoretically, but already here to stay. While others may think this a flight of fancy, reality is much more jarring than you think. It's here already, and it's not anything out of Star Wars, or even Buck Rogers. think money laundering in the aerospace industry.

Remember, there are hundreds of commercial satellites, experimental objects, military and intelligence collection devices, not to mention the budding space travel and private aviation companies, all flying into, through, around and above our atmosphere, and even outside it. Those airborne objects must be transported aloft, in many cases by private companies, or in joint ventures between governments and the private sector. The commercial satellites, most of which are the private property of multinational corporations, and often provide an ongoing and valuable communication (or other) service, which is charged to the users, directly or indirectly. Are you starting to get the picture now?

Always remember that an astute money launderer can take ANY industry and pervert it to meet his client's needs. He can use any type of legitimate enterprise to clean dirty cash, and we understand that the aerospace sector is already infiltrated by career money launderers. They may have even graduated to controlling certain cash-poor and needy startup companies, or be placing drug profits into such businesses, only to draw out purported profits, with impunity. How many FBI Special Agents have advanced degrees in the sciences, so that they might be able to understand the technology behind a balance sheet of  a multinational aerospace corporation?

In the dark world of the money launderer, every business represents a Target of opportunity, and the laundrymen's grasp is only limited by his (or her) imagination. Think about it.

PS. There are plans for a conference, in 2025, which will cover crime in the skies above us. Watch for it.    

BOGUS POLICE STATION USED ON SKYPE AND FRAUDSTERS IMPERSONATING OFFICERS FLEECE UNSUSPECTING TECHIE IN INDIA

                                     

Le Drian impersonator on Skype

Remember those enterprising French/Israeli fraudsters who constructed a counterfeit government ministry office, complete with bogus Foreign Minister impersonator, and used the scam to defraud victims out of millions of Euros? We covered that in an article entitled Identity of Principal Player in Massive Fraud Involving the Impersonation of the Foreign Minister of France Remains a Mystery (May 8, 2019). Well, some criminals in India were successful in pulling off a similar scam. They created what appeared to be a genuine police station, complete with actors posing as sworn, and uniformed, officers and contacted a victim with a fantastic tale of how they suspected her of using her account for money laundering. Think Mission Impossible scenes that you have seen in some of your favorite motion pictures.

Next, they convinced the victim to "temporarily" transfer a large amount of her money into their control. of course, they claimed that it was only until they could prove her innocence. They then disappear; she only learns of the deception when, contacting the real authorities, she finds out the truth. If you ask why she fell for the fraud, remember that in many countries, tax evasion is the rule, rather than the exception, and we have to assume that the victim may have been one of those who engage in that disreputable practice, and therefore, wanted most of all to not have problems with the authorities. While that fact was not in the details, the location of the scam was India.

It does illustrate a valid point: at no time should anyone in compliance ever accept a video communication from regulators, law enforcement, or government, without verifying its bona fides through other means, meaning telephone or in-person contact, unless you actually know the person on the other end of that Skype or other video, call. Even then, look at the photo above. Mission Impossible anyone? 

BARBADOS' HOPELESSLY CORRUPT JUSTICE SYSTEM REQUIRES OUTSIDE INTERVENTION BY PEACEKEEPERS FROM THE RSS

The court system in Barbados, where rampant corruption and the undue influence of an organized self-serving criminal association of lawyers who routinely deprive the population of its real estate holdings through widespread probate and property fraud, is so thoroughly dysfunctional as to require complete reform, requires outside intervention by the region's security apparatus at this time. The Caribbean's Regional Security System (RSS), which is an international military association of East Caribbean jurisdictions, headquartered in Barbados, appears to be the only viable tool to clean up Barbados' despicable theft-by-court reality.

We recognize that the RSS, which is designed to intervene in the region where outside forces, or local domestic instability demands a solution to national chaos, but the situation has reached the point where domestic tranquility, and the ends of justice demand radical action to save the moral fiber of Barbados itself. The existing system, where avaricious attorneys use the corrupt court system, specifically the probate court, to enrich themselves literally at the cost of their clients, who are deprived of an inheritance, real estate, handed down for generations, is so rotten that it must be completely dismantled and rebuilt.

Whether the cause of this presently untenable situation in Barbados is due to the greed of an attorney overpopulation, and the greed of lawyers who know that the local bar association will not discipline them, or for a general disregard for the Rule of Law in a country where the government, Ruled by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, is unfortunately composed of wealthy lawyers who themselves accumulated illicit assets before entering public service, is immaterial, radical change is a must, lest universal public anger eventually manifests itself into violent action, throwing the country in what could result in a confrontation between the people of Barbados, and its law enforcement apparatus, with the potential for loss of life and domestic chaos.

We agree that the RSS was never intended to act as a judicial policeman, but the rendering aid, through  the posting of experienced jurists from the East Caribbean, and supported by what would be an occupying force of peacekeepers, is not only necessary, it is imperative at this time. Barbados is literally drowning in corruption; can the RSS save it from itself? They must try, if an inevitable violent response from the victims is to be avoided. Nobody wants chaos in Barbados; clean up the sewer that is the local court system to prevent it.   

WANTED: HAMAS SENIOR LEADER SALIH AL-ARURI - $5MILLION REWARD

 

ARE WE NOW SEEING EFFECTIVE SENTENCING IN THE UNITED STATES FOR MONEY LAUNDERERS?

 

This week's financial crime news included a six and one-half year sentence being handed down in  a Federal California case, in the Los Angeles area, against ARMAN NIKOGOSYAN, for laundering three million dollars of fraudulently-obtained unemployment benefits obtained during the COVID crisis. The defendant, who has close to $200,000 in cash at his home when arrested, richly deserves that amount of time, but the case raises an important issue: why are many money launderers otherwise receiving short sentences in Federal Court?

I fully understand that many money laundering defendants not only plead guilty, but also assist law enforcement in the prosecution of others, in what we call the rendering of "Substantial Assistance,"  but in most cases, they are allowed to plead to a SINGLE money laundering conspiracy charge. This does not effectively deter others from engaging in money laundering, in my humble opinion. In fact, it gives individuals who are contemplating criminal action a false sense of security; at worst, they may have to serve two years or less, and if they artfully and carefully hid the proceeds of their crimes, they can come back out of prison and enjoy those illicitly-earned profits.

When I was serving a term in Federal Prison for money laundering, there was another inmate there who had been previously convicted, and incarcerated, under short sentences, six times! What's wrong with that picture? He had never served a sufficiently long sentence to give him pause before jumping right into criminal conduct upon release, several times. These short sentence for money laundering, which is a twenty year felony, must cease to be meted out, if we are to actually practice deterrence.

Perhaps this 6 1/2 sentence is the shape of things to come; if so I welcome it, for what has gone on in the past is not working.