Financial Transparency Coalition

Nearly 5 years ago the international community, led by the United States, imposed the first in a line of increasingly harsh economic sanctions on Iran in the hopes of ending the country’s nuclear ambitions. Despite some signs of success, consensus on the effectiveness of the sanctions remains elusive. However, what is becoming clear is that sanctions are contributing to an explosion of corruption and funneling billions of dollars to Iran’s fastest growing group of kleptocrats: the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, is like an amalgam of the Iranian CIA, Marines, Mafia and Fortune 500....

Global Financial Integrity Managing Director Tom Cardamone has written a new blog post for the TrustLaw website highlighting U.S. Senator Rand Paul's (R-KY) efforts to gut the USA PATRIOT Act of key anti-money laundering/anti-terror financing provisions. The key provisions are set to expire Friday morning unless the U.S. Congress renews them before then. Referencing two of Senator Paul's eight proposed amendments to the act, Cardamone writes:

Two of the Paul amendments deal with Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) that money services businesses...

If I told you that while the United States is engaged in a costly war against illegal drugs and the vicious cartels that traffic them, U.S. banks are willfully flouting U.S. and Mexican laws and helping these cartels launder their money, would you believe me? For decades the U.S. has served as a safe haven for the ill-gotten finances of corrupt foreign leaders and their ilk. Former foreign government ministers, military leaders, and corrupt heads of state have mansions, businesses, and bank accounts here. The banks who facilitate much of these activities are required by law to conduct...

A few weeks ago, the U.S. upped its economic sanctions on North Korea, trying to block the rampant illegal activities taken by, or on behalf of, the political elite of the state. Kim Jon Il manages his regime, in part, by using government resources to funnel exotic, luxury goods – jewelry, cars, yachts – to his large ring of cronies. This abuse falls directly under the broad definition of illicit financial flows (IFFs) as unrecorded funds and goods promoting illegal activity. Serious corruption and continued illicit activity within North Korea is becoming a larger threat to global security. These...