Money laundering fuels everything from terror finance and sanctions evasion to human trafficking and corruption. However, experts warn that our anti-money laundering efforts are on the brink of failure, as law enforcement only interdicts less than one-half of one percent of the trillions of dollars laundered each year. We need a new approach to addressing money laundering and the dangerous threats to our safety and security from the crimes funded through illicit finance.
The $11 trillion U.S. private investment industry represents a gaping hole in the U.S. anti-money laundering framework and makes the U.S. an attractive destination for illicit financial flows, according to a joint report released today by the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition, Global Financial Integrity, and the Transparency International U.S. Office.
FACT’s latest report – “Private Investments, Public Harm: How the Opacity of the Massive U.S. Private Investment Industry Fuels Corruption and Threatens National Security” – reveals a gaping hole in the U.S. anti-money laundering framework that undermines U.S. national security, jeopardizes the world’s democracies, and touches the lives of ordinary Americans.
With the global climate summit COP26 just concluded and the Summit for Democracy – with its emphasis on combating corruption – right around the corner, now is the perfect time for activists to bring together the fights against corruption and climate change.
Casey Michel’s new book, “American Kleptocracy” (released Nov. 23), is an investigative look into how the U.S. built “the largest illicit offshore finance system the world has ever known” and how this system has “infected American politics, threatened US national security and gouged local communities.”
FACT Joins 31 Civil Society Organizations and Experts to Send a Letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee in Support of Six Bipartisan Anticorruption Measures
The past week’s revelations through the “Pandora Papers” – the largest exposé to-date of how global politicians, business leaders, celebrities, and multinational companies use and abuse the “offshore” financial system – are both shocking and surprisingly familiar.
