BRITAIN likes to see itself as a leader in the fight against illicit finance and corruption. The government has recently been talking even tougher, as worsening relations with Russia have focused attention on the number of oligarchs who have interests in London. Anyone looking to stash dirty money “should be in no doubt that we will come for them,” warns Ben Wallace, the economic-crime minister….Time to clean up

Britain’s war on dirty money lacks oomph
It is strong on transparency but weak on enforcement

London has been accused of being a major centre of money laundering.                                 Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

A Cautionary Tale about Online Anonymity.
Are bitcoin and the Darkweb as anonymous as people think?

But bitcoin isn’t actually that anonymous after all. Experts call it “pseudonymous,” comparable to writing a book under a pen name. Users are anonymous so long as there’s no connection between their identity and an account number. Obscuring that connection is not so easy. If you buy bitcoins in an online exchange office, you leave a bank or credit card receipt. If you pay in an online shop with bitcoins, you enter a delivery address. There’s a trail to almost every transaction.

Ross Ulbricht can spend the next decades thinking about the distinction between anonymous and pseudonymous while he’s serving a life sentence in prison. In 2011, he created a digital marketplace where customers could order anything from heroin to fake IDs. But relying on the anonymity of bitcoin and the dark side of the internet eventually led to Ulbricht’s downfall….The Silk Road a Real Thriller

Over the past few years, Hezbollah operatives engaged in money-laundering, narcotics trafficking, and other illegal schemes.

Hezbollah’s European Criminal Network:

Across Europe, in countries large and small, intelligence and law enforcement officials have tracked the movement of Hezbollah operatives involved in a wide array of activities. Over the past few years, Hezbollah operatives engaged in money-laundering, narcotics trafficking, and other illegal schemes have been arrested in Lithuania[15] and France,[16] offices were raided and a Hezbollah-linked charity blacklisted in Germany,[17] and individuals and companies were designated as Hezbollah terrorist entities for carrying out illicit business activity for Hezbollah in Europe….
Hezbollah’s European Criminal Network

The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the identification of The Lebanese Canadian Bank SAL together with its subsidiaries (LCB) as a financial institution of primary money laundering concern under Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act (Section 311) for the bank’s role in facilitating the money laundering activities of an international narcotics trafficking and money laundering network.  This network moves illegal drugs from South America to Europe and the Middle East via West Africa and launders hundreds of millions of dollars monthly through accounts held at LCB, as well as through trade-based money laundering involving consumer goods throughout the world, including through used car dealerships in the United States.  Treasury has reason to believe that LCB managers are complicit in the network’s money laundering activities. Today’s action also exposes the terrorist organization Hizballah’s links to LCB and the international narcotics trafficking and money laundering network.  ..Treasury Identifies Lebanese Canadian Bank Sal as a “Primary Money Laundering Concern”

Cocaine Money Laundering

Rodrigo Matos
www.w-t-w.org/en/rodrigo-de-matos
www.rodrigocartoon.com

Women Networks Fight Against Corruption and Money Laundering

Elizabeth Warren‏: My office found that Rusal America Corp – a subsidiary of a sanctioned company controlled by a Russian oligarch & Putin ally – got an exemption from @realDonaldTrump’s aluminum tariffs days after he met with Putin in Helsinki. I asked the Trump Admin why.

Hundreds of companies have asked the Trump administration for a special break from its sweeping aluminum tariffs. Few have succeeded. One that managed to get an exemption is a Russian firm currently subject to Treasury Department sanctions.

How Rusal America — a branch of a Russian metals giant controlled by an oligarch with close ties to President Vladimir V. Putin — managed to win an exclusion highlights the chaotic and unwieldy process surrounding President Trump’s tariffs……NYTimes.com