F I U 'S in Action
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F I U ’s in action A compilation of 100 sanitised ca s es This edition is the product of on succes s es and learning moments contributions from Egmont Members: in the fight against money laundering Financial Intelligence Units 100 ca s es from the Egmont Group No rights may be derived from this publica t i o n . All names of natural persons and legal entities are fictitious and any similarities are purely coincidenta l . I N T R ODUCT I ON 2 I N T R ODUC T ION In 1999, the Egmont Training Working Group undertook an initiative to draw together a compilation of sanitised ca s es about the fight against money laundering undertaken by the Egmont Group member FIUs. The compilation was to reflect in part the Egmont Group’s fifth anniversary in 2000. We are pleased that almost every member FIU contributed at least one case. We would, therefore, like to thank all members for their co-operation. Without such e f f o r t s we w ou ld not hav e been ab l e to p rod uce th e compila ti on . For fi n a nc ia l a nd p rac ti c al r ea son s i t wa s not po s si b le to pu b li sh th is ed it io n as a b oo kl e t. Instead we choose a CD-ROM publication. The advantage of this format, however, is that you are free to copy the data for the benefit of your FIU. If you decide to translate the compilation into your own language, please be so kind as to inform the Permanent Administrative Support of the Egmont Group. Your translation could be useful to other FIUs, and - if supplied in a n electronic format - would certainly be placed on the Egmont Secure We b s i t e . We hope this CD - ROM will be used by you for training purposes and as a feedback-tool for your partners in the fight against money laundering and we also hope that as a res u l t more and more succes s es are reported by Egmont-members. M r. A ndr e w B le zz ar d, Ch ai r ma n Tr ai n in g & C om m uni c at io n Wor kin g G ro u p [Head of the ECU at NCIS ] M r. Harald V. Koppe, Vice-chairman Training & Communication Working Group [Head of the MOT ] 111 FORE W O RD FORE W ORD As explained by Mr. Blezzard and Mr. Koppe in the introduction, this report is the res u l t o f an initiative by the Egmont Training and Communication Working Group. In the past five years different FIUs around the world have gained substantial experience in detecting and combating money laundering, but the organised exchange of such experience between c o u n t r i es has tended to be minimal. The Egmont Group celebrated its fifth anniversa r y i n 2000, and it seemed to be an appropriate time to gather and publicise examples o f t h e anti-laundering work of all members. To this end, at the end of 1999, the C h a i r m a n of the Working Group requested all member FIUs to submit ca s es that demonstrated s u c c es s es against money laundering. Almost every member FIU complied with this r e q u est, and as a result this report contains one hundred of the most appropriate ca s es from all over the world. The ca s es were received in a variety of formats over an eight month period, with some o f them being submitted in the member FIUs own language and with original case notes . Translations were made into English, and the editorial team analysed each case to determine which aspects of the laundering activity and investigation were best highlighted in the final version. The ca s es have also been rewritten in such a way that a uniform and easy to read style has been reached - the Working Group is aware that a significant number of members do not have English as a first language and so a simple terminology was preferable. Th e ca s es have also been altered to minimise the risk that a specific case could be identified by third part i es. For the same reason geographical references have been generalised. Fo r example ‘A m e r i ca’ refers to all locations in the both North-, Central- and South America . B e cause of the translation, sa n i t i sation, and simplification, it is possible that member FIU s may not recognise their own contributions. The ca s es have been subdivided in six ca t e g o r i es, containing five general laundering t y p o l o g i es and one chapter focusing on intelligence exchange succes s es. The ca t e g o r i es used were: › Concealment within Business Structures ; › Misuse of Legitimate Busines s es ; › Use of False Identities, Documents, or Straw Men; › Exploiting International Jurisdictional Issues ; › Use of Anonymous Asset Ty p es ; › Effective Use of Intelligence Exchanges . FORE W ORD At the beginning of each chapter you will find a short explanation of each typology. Yo u will also notice that some ca s es include more than one typology, but the ca s es have been identified by the primary typology involved. It should also be noted that this report focuses on the laundering typology, and not the method used to commit the crime itself; some o f the fraud ca s es may, for example, use one typology for the fraud and a separate method for the laundering of the funds. Throughout all the ca s es, laundered funds are expressed in US dollars, although i n t h e original ca s e n o t es the currencies used varied widely. This change to US dollars w a s made to firstly sanitise the ca s es to prevent identification of country of origin, secondly t o enable simple comparison between volumes of funds reported in each case, and thirdly b e cause member FIUs will usually be aware of the US dollar value in their own currencies and will therefore understand the scale of the laundering operation more easily. It should also be noted that although the ca s es have been rewritten to a unified style, t h e underlying legal obligation to disclose differs in each country, which will have shaped the activities of each member FIU. In some countries financial institutions are obliged t o disclose if transactions meet certain criteria determined by government or regulator. I n other countries financial institutions have to make a decision on whether a transa c t i o n is suspicious enough to be disclosed to the national FIU. Some disclosure ca s es may therefore appear to be somewhat illogical in comparison to the normal experiences o f individual FIU s . The res u l ts of each case vary strongly. This is dependent to a large extent on the formal position of each national FIU within the national anti money laundering system. Some FIU s - Administrative Units - analyse the disclosure data received to an administrative sta n d a r d, often using special powers, and forward likely money laundering ca s es to Law Enforcement a g e n c i es for active investigation. Such units tended to report a ‘finished’ case at the point at which a report was forwarded to mainstream Law Enforcement or J u d i c i a r y. Other FIUs - Po l i c e /Law Enforcement/Judicial Units - have more investigative powers, a consequence o f which they are often involved closely in the final result. Such u n i ts tended to report a ‘finished’ case as a trial was scheduled or concluded. Fu rthermore, it should be recognised that, the timeline of a financial investigation from initial disclosure of transactions to prosecution of suspects can be a long one, with ca s es often taking a number of years to conclude. Consequently, member FIUs were not always able to submit ca s es in which prosecutions or asset confiscations had taken place. FORE W ORD La s t l y, the length of time taken for money laundering investigations means that few ca s es involving new technology or techniques - such as laundering using the Internet, Smart - cards or Online-banking - were submitted for this report. The Working Group recognises that such technology has been developing rapidly in the last few years, whilst the majority of the submitted ca s es began with disclosures in the period 199 5 – 1 998. It can be expected that new ca s es involving such technology will increasingly come to the attention of law enforcement over time. We hope this compilation meets your expectations, and we wish you an enjoyable read. The Editorial Te a m CO N T EN TS 8 Concealment within Business structures / 9 Misuse of Legitimate Busines s es / 50 Use of False Identities, Documents, or Straw Men / 70 E x p l o i tation of International Jurisdictional Issues / 1 0 0 Use of Anonymous Asset Ty p es / 1 2 5 Effective use of Intelligence e x c h a n g es / 1 56 C o m m e n ts / 1 68 Appendix A: Most frequently observed indica t o r s / 171 CONC E A L M E N T W I T H IN BUSINESS ST R UCT U RES 9 CONCEA L ME N T W I T H IN BUSINESS STRUC T URES The first typology is typified by laundering schemes that seek to conceal criminal funds within the normal activity of existing busines s es or companies controlled by the criminal o r g a n i sation.