The Dark Money Files

Following an extraordinary week of developments which saw the removal of Danske from Estonia, its voluntary departure from Latvia, Lithuania and Russia, the launching of an investigation of both Danish and Estonian regulators by the European Banking Authority, the prolonging of an argument between the two regulators by the publication of hitherto private correspondence AND the addition of Swedbank to those embroiled in the laundromat, we've recorded a special episode to talk about all these developments.

And what developments they have been!

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In this episode we begin to look at the report, commissioned by Dankse Bank, which finally brought to light the full extent of what went wrong in Estonia.

Part One explains the background to the report, the terms of reference, and the definitions of what constituted "suspicious" both in terms of customers, accounts, transactions and people associated with the bank.

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In this episode we look in some detail at payments made from Danske Estonia to three specific countries - Spain, UK, and Latvia. The outcome will surprise some and intrigue all.

It's a more complex episode because that's the way that Dark Money Launderers work and introduces, for the first time, direct references to the Magnitsky affair.

It also demonstrates that, if you look carefully enough, all of these payments, entities and schemes are connected.

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In this episode we look at a specific set of transactions within Danske Estonia - those emanating from accounts which are also located there. We do so because, of all the transactions that the bank handled, these are the ones it ought to have known most about as it would have (or should have) held "Know Your Customer" information on them. As we will see, it didn't appear to have helped them spot highly suspicious connections between supposedly unconnected accounts.

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If you really want to understand why this was such a noteworthy failure of financial crime controls, this is the episode you really must listen to.

We take the audience through the many different elements that constitute "suspicious activity" and then explain those elements that are observed within the bank statements from Danske.

If you’d like more information you can always visit https://grahambarrow.com/

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Episode 2 brings a detailed explanation of the acquisition by Danske Bank of, amongst other things, the branch in Estonia which was the centre of the money laundering operation. It provides details and context as to the surrounding elements, all of which help to understand why it has been such a headline grabbing debacle.

If you’d like more information you can always visit https://grahambarrow.com/

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This is the first in a series of podcasts which explain in a non-technical way how "Dark Money" (e.g. money laundering, corruption, bribery, tax evasion) enters the financial system and infects everything it touches.

It explains what Dark Money is, why it matters and takes an early look at some of the challenges facing the banks and other financial institutions. 

It also gives a flavour for some of the episodes still to come. 

If you’d like more detail you can always visit https://grahambarrow.com/

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Follow us on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-dark-money-files-ltd/ on Twitter at  https://twitter.com/dark_files or see our website at https://www.thedarkmoneyfiles.com/