Kieran talks with Dan Stipano, partner at Davis Polk, and Jamal El-Hindi, Counsel at Clifford Chance, about the Financial Crime Enforcement Network’s far reaching new rules for creating a U.S. beneficial ownership information (BOI) database for regulators and law enforcement, including who will be required to file personal identifying information and who will not have access to the registry. Mandated by Congress to be operational by January 2024, Dan and Jamal also detail some of the essential questions that remain unanswered about the registry, and what the regulatory landscape will look like ..read more

Kieran talks with Jonathan Dupont, a financial intelligence investigator for Western Union, and Tiffany Polyak, AFC Associate at ACAMS, about the growth in online sexual exploitation of children and the related rise in child sexual abuse materials on the Internet. In exposing the scope of the online exploitation, Jonathan and Tiffany point to the more than 100 million reports of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in Europe and the United States in 2021, with 19,000 victims being identified in the United States alone. Drawing from their work to create ACAMS’ free online anti-CSAM training progr ..read more

Kieran talks with Bryan Smith, chief of the FBI’s Cybercriminal Section and a 20-year bureau veteran, about the growing threat of cybercrime to both individuals and large corporations. Bryan discusses the destruction caused by cyber hacking, identity theft and old fashion fraud and he shares some of the successes the FBI has had in recovering stolen funds – whether in fiat currencies or crypto. While concerned about future cybercrime threats from criminals who are always innovating, Bryan also argues that there is much that can be done to prevent cybercrime and catch its perpetrators when law ..read more

Kieran talks with Nathan Lynch, author of 'The Lucky Laundry' - an expose of how Australia became the conduit for billons of dollars in laundered funds from the proceeds of drug trafficking, corruption, the sexual exploitation of children and other heinous crimes committed by transnational criminal organizations. Nathan, Manager of Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence, Asia-Pacific, details how the 'Lucky Country' (as Australians view their homeland) became the 'Lucky Laundry' undermining confidence in the nation’s largest financial institutions and government, and creating a still unmet ou ..read more

Kieran talks with ACAMS colleague Joby Carpenter about the current tumult in the digital asset world, including plummeting cryptocurrency prices, digital value’s exploitation by money launderers, the threat from cyberhackers, and the rise in crypto-related fraud schemes. A global subject matter expert on cryptocurrency, Joby draws on 18 years of experience in strategic and risk analysis roles across the UK government, intelligence and regulatory community and concludes that there is a saner, albeit more regulated, future ahead for digital assets ..read more

Kieran talks with Daniel Thelesklaf, Project Director for Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking (FAST) at the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research about the effort to protect refugees fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from human trafficking. While many governments, organizations and individuals are offering support for refugees that includes information, food, shelter and job placements, “there are traffickers waiting at the borders” with job and other offers that Daniel says are, of course, too good to be true. Financial institutions have a vital role and a responsibility ..read more

Kieran talks with Ilze Znotina about the challenges Latvia has faced over the past four years she has been head of the Financial Intelligence Unit, including enforcing sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. “Baltic states have suffered… a very similar situation that Ukraine is suffering right now, [but] thankfully not in recent years,” Ilze says, adding that the region is for that united in trying to make the sanctions work. “[Ukraine] fights for themselves and all of us in the Baltic states,” she says. Ilze, who became head of the FIU in the wake of the collapse of the co ..read more

Kieran talks with Jessica Davis, a veteran of more than 20 years in defense and intelligence roles in government and the private sector in Canada. They discuss the occupation of Canada’s capitol for three weeks last winter by the so-called “Freedom Convoy,” efforts to support the group via crowdfunding, cryptocurrency, and cash as well as the Canadian government’s successful seizure or freezing of much of that funding. Jessica, president of Insight Threat Intelligence and author of “Illicit Money: Financing Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century,” tells Kieran that the unprecedented use of Cana ..read more

Kieran talks with John Sifton, advocacy director, and Patti Gossman, associate Asia director, at Human Rights Watch about the dire humanitarian situation in Afghanistan following the return of the Taliban to power. “One in three families is facing food insecurity” from malnourishment to starvation, says Patti, adding that the crisis is affecting not only the already impoverished, but middle-class and working-class people who are no longer paid for their jobs and have no access to their savings. “Sanctions on Afghanistan are an important part of the economic crisis, but they are not the root ca ..read more

Kieran talks with Olivia Swaak-Goldman, executive director of the Wildlife Justice Commission, about the Hague-based organization’s efforts to stop the illegal wildlife trade and other forms of environmental exploitation, currently the fourth largest source of funds for transnational criminal organizations. Olivia discusses how WJC targets traffickers in endangered species and those having the greatest negative environmental impact with its team of former law enforcement investigators, intelligence officials and prosecutors. Olivia highlights WJC’s recent success in prosecuting ivory and Pango ..read more