Financial Crimes

Financial Crimes arise from tax and bank fraud, bribery, theft, and corruption of all kinds.  

Money Laundering is the “washing” of proceeds from illegal activities through investing in real estate, fine art, and other legitimate businesses so that the ill-gotten gains may be enjoyed, but can also include tax evasion strategies without additional crimes.  Money laundering is facilitated through commercial and private banks via nested LLCs and other structures that hide ownership.  On April 3, 2016, The Panama Papers  dump by a whistleblower at Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, revealed this structure and many criminal networks have been prosecuted since.  Other document dumps following have expanded the law enforcement capability tremendously.  In November 2017, The Paradise Papers revealed more.

The Swiss Leaks- HSBC‘s Private Swiss Bank accounts revealed many crimes. 2005 Swiss implementation of the  European Savings Directive, or ESD on individuals, not applicable to corporations.  ICIJ “In August 2014, Argentine tax agents raided HSBC’s offices in Buenos Aires. The Buenos Aires Herald has reported that Argentine tax chief Ricardo Echegaray has accused HSBC of “rolling out a fraud-enabling platform” as “a maneuver to hide bank account information from tax collectors.” ICIJ

Deutsche Bank– Putin’s VTB Bank backed Trump’s loans, arranged by Rosemary Vrablic who serviced Kushner Companies for years.  Deutsche clients include Jeffrey Epstein.   Class Action Lawsuit by shareholders from November 7, 2017, and July 6, 2020, for Deutsche’s false statements and relationship with Danske Bank and lying about anti-money laundering measures.  It launders money for the mob, among its legitimate business.  July 7, 2020, the NY State Dept. of Financial Services (DFS) fined Deutsche $150 million for not flagging Epstein’s transactions with Danske Estonia & FBME Bank (both prior misconduct scandals).

Trump’s Bank Was Subpoenaed by N.Y. Prosecutors in Criminal Inquiry The subpoena, sent to Deutsche Bank, suggests that the inquiry into President Trump’s business practices is more wide-ranging than previously known. The New York Times By David Enrich, Ben Protess, William K. Rashbaum and Benjamin Weiser  August 5, 2020

Danske Bank

Bank of Cyprus

The Russians

1MDB-Malaysia

Malta

US Bank– Michael LaFontaine January 2005- May 2015- penalized for failure to implement anti-money laundering measures and timely file SARs February 26, 2020 complaint

There have been several leaks of financial information revealing international money laundering.

The Paradise Papers:

Released November 5, 2017, The Paradise Papers is a global investigation into the offshore activities of some of the world’s most powerful people and companies.

“The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and 95 media partners explored 13.4 million leaked files from a combination of offshore service providers and the company registries of some of the world’s most secretive countries. The files were obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.” ICIJ.org

The Panama Papers:

Released April 3, 2016: “an anonymous source contacted the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) and submitted encrypted internal documents from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm that sells anonymous offshore companies around the world. These shell companies enable their owners to cover up their business dealings, no matter how shady.

In the months that followed, the number of documents continued to grow far beyond the original leak. Ultimately, SZ acquired about 2.6 terabytes of data, making the leak the biggest that journalists had ever worked with. The source wanted neither financial compensation nor anything else in return, apart from a few security measures. The Panama Papers include approximately 11.5 million documents – more than the combined total of the Wikileaks Cablegate, Offshore Leaks, Lux Leaks, and Swiss Leaks. The data primarily comprises e-mails, pdf files, photo files, and excerpts of an internal Mossack Fonseca database. It covers a period spanning from the 1970s to the spring of 2016. In the wake of the data purchase, last year investigators searched the homes and offices of about 100 people. The Commerzbank was also raided. As a consequence of their business dealings with Mossack Fonseca, Commerzbank, HSH Nordbank, and Hypovereinsbank agreed to pay fines of around 20 million euros, respectively. Since then, other countries have also acquired data from the initial smaller leak, among them the United States, the UK, and Iceland.

About Süddeutsche Zeitung

Headquartered in Munich, Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) is one of Germany’s leading newspapers. SZ has a total readership of 4.4 million for its print and online media. Its investigative journalism team counts five people, three of which are members of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The Süddeutsche Zeitunghas won a number of prestigious awards for its research work. Its team has cooperated with other media organizations on a number of projects, including Offshore Leaks, Swiss Leaks, and Lux Leaks, which ICIJ coordinated. At the beginning of 2015, an anonymous source began sending the Süddeutsche Zeitung data from Mossack Fonseca, a provider of offshore companies. This marked the beginning of the Panama Papers project.”  Süddeutsche Zeitung