Financial Crime Matters

Jeffrey Robinson introduced stories of money laundering to the masses with his 1995 global best seller 'The Laundrymen'. Poised to release a completely revised edition 'The New Laundrymen' next year, Jeffrey gives Kieran a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what's included.

Always opinionated and deeply passionate about the characters and stories he uncovers, Robinson, the author of 30 books, has been labelled "the world's leading financial crime author."

Read Jeffrey's full bio on his website: http://www.jeffreyrobinson.com/bio

FATF spoke...and Canada listened.

Jacqueline Shinfield of Blake, Cassels & Graydon walks Kieran Beer through the sweeping changes that Canada is making to its AML and Anti-Financial Crime legislative landscape.

From regulating virtual currencies, changes to STR regimes, and dramatic shifts in Electronic Funds Transfer reporting frameworks - this is a must-hear briefing for all compliance professionals.

And...it's just the start. Jacqueline tells us where Canada might tighten regulations even further as it seeks to match shifts in technology, and how our society shapes itself today.

Read Jacqueline's full bio at: https://www.blakes.com/English/WhoWeAre/FindPerson/Pages/Profile.aspx?EmpID=105921

We're also delighted to welcome Jacqueline as a speaker at the ACAMS 18th Annual Vegas Conference, which started today! Are you in Vegas this year? If you are, Kieran would love to hear in person how you're enjoying the Financial Crime Matters series...or give him a shout out on twitter at www.twitter.com/kieranbeer #ACAMSVegas

'We're now treating the Financiers just as seriously as the Terrorists themselves...that's a Gamechanger'.

In this expansive chat about the financing of global terrorism, Celina Realuyo tells Kieran Beer about the defeat of ISIS, the rise and reach of Hezbollah and how criminals are using every trick in the financial crime book to keep money flowing to those intent on creating Terror.

As a former US diplomat, international banker with Goldman Sachs, US counterterrorism official, and professor of international security affairs at the National Defense, Georgetown, George Washington, and Joint Special Operations Universities, Professor Celina Realuyo has over two decades of international experience in the public, private, and academic sectors.

Read her full biography here: https://www.williamjperrycenter.org/about/full-time-faculty/ms-celina-realuyo

"Data Protection is not an obstacle to fight money-laundering" : Alexandra Jour-Schroeder of the European Commission

In this episode, Kieran Beer hosts a fast-paced discussion with Alexandra Jour-Schroeder about the European Union's efforts to fight money laundering and the financing of terror.

Their chat covers a diverse range of topics, from 5AMLD to GDPR, the effort to harmonise definitions across the EU's member states, and how the European Commission is working to bring together all of the actors who are fighting financial crime.

Elder financial abuse is as devastating as physical abuse, and it's a problem on the rise. In this episode, Elizabeth Loewy and Kieran Beer explore both simple and high-tech ways to pick up on the signs that vulnerable adults might be being defrauded.

With an estimated 70-80% of all US assets now held by seniors (the Baby Boomers are aging!), financial institutions have to be prepared to spot and respond quickly to elder abuse scams. If you're a compliance officer, do you know what to look for, and what to do if you think there's a problem?

Elizabeth Loewy has spent three decades fighting elder abuse, first as a Prosecutor (she served as co-counsel in the trial involving the financial exploitation of well-known philanthropist Brooke Astor by her son and his attorney, which resulted in convictions to both defendants), and now as co-founder and COO of FinTech company EverSafe. Read more about Liz's background at https://www.eversafe.com/team/

How does North Korea finance their weapons program? And have sanctions been effective in stopping the proliferation of nuclear weapons?

In this episode, Tom Keatinge from defence think tank RUSI talks to Kieran Beer about weapons of mass destruction, and gives his top tips for compliance professionals interested in upskilling in the increasingly complex area of counter-proliferation.

Read more on this topic in ‘Securing the Supply Chain', the recent paper co-authored by Tom: https://rusi.org/publication/rusi-newsbrief/securing-supply-chain-implementing-north-korea-sanctions-beyond-banking

Follow Tom on twitter: https://twitter.com/keatingetom

Financial institutions have the power to disrupt the $150 billion business of modern slavery.

In this episode, Angel Swift talks to Kieran Beer about the shocking global scale of human trafficking and the new digital platform that's been launched to help fight it: Stand Together Against Trafficking (STAT).

If you work for a financial institution, in law enforcement, or at a non-profit or advocacy group, go to www.enigma.com/stat to sign-up.

STAT(a free platform from Enigma, Polaris and ACAMS)is the first of its kind, harnessing big data and public-private collaboration to level up the fight against traffickers.

Angel Swift is Vice President, Compliance and Financial Crime Solutions at Enigma Technologies, and formerly worked as a VP and Director of Investigations at American Express, and as a Prosecutor for the New York District Attorney's Office. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angel-nguyen-swift-4289999/

John Smith spent 11 years at OFAC, including three years as it's Director, and served under 4 Presidents. He is a global authority on Sanctions, and in this interview with Kieran Beer he sets out the past, present and future of the Sanctions world as we know it.

Discover why OFAC was created, what role Congress plays (and should play!) in setting Sanctions, and how the Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump administrations have differed in their approaches.

If you work in Financial Crime, or simply want to know how Sanctions have changed the world (like the fall of apartheid in South Africa) you need to listen to this podcast.

We're also proud to announce that John will be giving a special presentation at the 15th Annual ACAMS European AML & Anti-Financial Crime Conference in Berlin (11-13 June 2019). Find out more on www.acamsconferences.org/europe.

Read John's full bio on the Morrison & Foerster site at https://www.mofo.com/people/john-smith.html

Kieran Beer interviews two-time Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative journalist Jake Bernstein about his new book "Secrecy World".

Jake was a senior journalist on the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) team that broke the Panama Papers in 2017. His new book "Secrecy World", based on the story of Mossack Fonseca and the 2017 scandal, is about to be made into a major motion picture.

"Secrecy World offers a disturbing and sobering view of how the world really works and raises critical questions about financial and legal institutions we may once have trusted." (Amazon)

In this podcast, Kieran and Jake talk about how Mossack Fonseca was exposed, and what real-world impact this has had (and is continuing to have) across the globe.

Find Jake on Twitter www.twitter.com/jake_bernstein

In the first episode of his new podcast series, Kieran Beer sits down with author and Wall Street Journal reporter Bradley Hope to examine the story behind the story of the 1MDB scandal.

Bradley and fellow WSJ reporter Thomas Wright co-authored "Billion Dollar Whale", the story of Malaysian national Jho Low, and how he managed to steal billions from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

And while the role of the Compliance Officer may have grown in prominence over the last decade, the subtext of "Billion Dollar Whale" is that their warnings are still being routinely ignored when big money is at stake.

Amongst the accounts of vast excess - private jets, yachts and celebrity parties we ask: how did the perpetrators of the 1MDB scandal keep up the charade of legitimacy for so long?

Read more of Kieran Beer's thoughts on the book at https://www.moneylaundering.com/news/from-the-editor-compliance-officers-still-routinely-ignored/

Find Bradley on Twitter www.twitter.com/bradleyhope