The European Commission has presented an ambitious package of legislative proposals to strengthen the EU’s anti-money laundering and countering terrorism financing (AML/CFT) rules. The package also includes the proposal for the creation of a new EU authority to fight money laundering. This package is part of the Commission’s commitment to protect EU citizens and the EU’s financial system from money laundering and terrorist financing. The aim of this package is to improve the detection of suspicious transactions and activities, and to close loopholes used by criminals to launder illicit proceeds or finance terrorist activities through the financial system. As recalled in the EU’s Security Union Strategy for 2020-2025, enhancing the EU’s framework for anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing will also help to protect Europeans from terrorism and organised crime. Continue reading…

by Michael Edesess

Nassim Nicholas Taleb doesn’t mince words. When he thinks that something is worthless, he says so. In a recent paper he says in no uncertain terms that bitcoin is worthless. However, those “uncertain terms” are not only in mathematical language but in Taleb-speak. They need some explanation and interpretation. I will provide it in this brief article. In a new paper, “Bitcoin, Currencies, and Fragility,” Taleb aims a scattergun at bitcoin and its underlying database technology, blockchain. Some of those scattershots merely ding bitcoin or blockchain only slightly, or not at all. But some of them hit the mark squarely. Continue reading…

The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) recently decided to launch the investigation phase of a digital euro project. Following the decision, the President of the Eurogroup Paschal Donohoe joined the meeting, congratulated the Governing Council and expressed his full support for the project. “It has been nine months since we published our report on a digital euro. In that time, we have carried out further analysis, sought input from citizens and professionals, and conducted some experiments, with encouraging results. All of this has led us to decide to move up a gear and start the digital euro project”, says ECB President Christine Lagarde. “Our work aims to ensure that in the digital age citizens and firms continue to have access to the safest form of money, central bank money”. Continue reading…

by Michel Klompmaker

It was coming. Another crypto scandal. Now two South African brothers seem to have run off with 69,000 bitcoins from customers who had entrusted their money to Africrypt. This amounts to several billion euros. The two brothers had founded their company in 2019 in Johannesburg. As usual in this market, they promised high returns and they targeted high net worth individuals. Last April, there was a glitch in which customers were warned that the company had been hacked and that online crypto wallets were at risk. Let’s go back to the seventeenth century just to be sure. How did it come to sit with the tulips again? Continue reading…

On June 2, 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned three Bulgarian nationals due to their extensive roles in corruption in Bulgaria, as well as their network of 64 entities. The administration believes that corruption will lead to a break down in the rule of law, weaken the economy and economic growth, undermine democracy, perpetuate conflicts, and deprive innocent civilians of their basic human rights. The recent action is the largest anti-corruption action to date, indicating that the Ministry of Finance is working tirelessly to hold those involved in corruption accountable. The US government will continue to impose tangible and significant consequences on those involved in corruption and commit to protecting the global financial system from abuse. Continue reading…

The stark rise in the production of synthetic drugs such as (meth-)amphetamines poses increasing challenges for prosecutors across Europe. By rapidly changing the composition of chemicals used for these drugs – as, for instance, red phosphorus, MAPA and APAA – or creating new substances, producers try to exploit legal gaps and avoid prosecution. Also, due to legal uncertainties, it is often difficult to prove suppliers are deliberately selling illegal drugs or substances. Furthermore, the sale of synthetic drugs via online marketplaces, particularly on the darknet, is an obstacle for prosecutions and seriously harms public health. These are some of the main conclusions of the new Eurojust Report on Drug Trafficking. Illicit drug trafficking across the EU is generally growing strongly, with an estimated value of at least EUR 30 billion. The report gives further recommendations to increase financial investigations, asset recovery and judicial cooperation, including with third countries. Continue reading…

by Frank Staelens

Although the global amount spent on combating financial crime went above $1,3 billion, 2020 saw a record number of enforcement actions in numerous global jurisdictions. Furthermore, estimates suggest between $800 billion and $2 trillion of criminal money flows went through the financial system in 2020, while an overwhelming majority of it remained undetected. In other words, the Financial Crime combat status at the average financial institution today is too high in spending, and too low on results. Although regulators around the world always allowed for financial institutions to design their own risk based approach, review procedures are often copied from one institution to another and/or are standardised by using fixed checklists and risk weights. For instance, the risk weight for involvement with real estate activities is usually the same for all clients, while the specifics around the nature of the real estate activities (professional/private person, renting/promotion/project development, number of transactions and amounts concerned, the regions of activity, risk mitigating factors …) are best taken into account to avoid either over- or under qualification of risks. 
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Five members of a Slovak organised crime group (OCG) have been sentenced in the United Kingdom for up to eight years in prison for the exploitation of fellow nationals in a case of modern slavery and money laundering. Between 2008 and 2017, the victims were forced to work under appalling circumstances in British restaurant kitchens and car wash facilities, receiving only approximately EUR 25 for working weeks of up to 80 hours a week. In 2019, Eurojust organised and supported coordinated actions of the UK and Slovak authorities that led to the arrest of the five perpetrators. Continue reading…

Eurojust has supported an operation against large-scale VAT fraud, money laundering and forgery of documents, which have cost the Spanish tax authorities EUR 26 million in missed revenues. In record time, the Agency coordinated the judicial cooperation with Slovakia, Belgium and the Netherlands to halt the fraud scheme. The scammers had set up a series of fake companies to avoid paying VAT within the internal market. During an action day, 22 suspects were arrested and 24 places were searched. A total of 13 properties and 16 vehicles were seized, and tens of bank accounts were frozen. Continue reading…

Decades of self-regulation and rapid expansion has led the sport sector to lag behind other industries in corporate governance and policy implementation, as demonstrated by the consistent media exposure documenting scandals at football clubs, and at National and International Sport Federations. On Wednesday April 28th 2021, the Economic Crime Series: Governance and Ownership Issues in Football was held online. The event was organised and chaired by Prof. Lisa Jack who welcomed two speakers, Dr. Rob Wilson and Mrs. Christina Philippou. The Risk & Compliance Platform Europe also took part in this webinar and has subsequently covered it on its website. Continue reading…