Financial Transparency Coalition

Mexico and Venezuela Lead Region with Most Illicit Outflows The Center for International Policy's (CIP) Global Financial Integrity program (GFI) released a new report this week that estimates the quantity and patterns of illicit financial flows coming out of developing countries. The report, "Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries, 2000-2009," (PDF) finds that approximately $6.5 trillion was removed from the developing world from 2000 through 2008, averaging $725 billion to $810 billion per year. Most notable for Latin America, the new GFI report, authored by Dev Kar and Karly Curcio, places both Mexico...

Wall Street Journal—Venezuela lost $33 billion, or 10% of gross domestic product, in 2008 alone to illicit financial outflows, according to estimates from a forthcoming report from research group Global Financial Integrity.

Venezuela Lost Over US$33 Billion in Illicit Financial Outflows in 2008¹

Hugo Chávez again took to his twitter account last week, expressing his support for Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa in the midst of an uprising by disgruntled police officers. While a firm fan of new social media, Mr. Chávez tends to take a dim view of the more traditional sort. Since his election to the presidency in 1998, he has sought to muffle opposition, with state dominance of the media at the heart of his ‘Bolivarian Revolution’. Invariably a government seeking to control the...

Watching President Obama, President Sarkozy, and Prime Minister Brown discuss the existence of a new Iranian nuclear facility this morning, I was eerily reminded of the briefing by NY District Attorney Robert Morgenthau that Global Financial Integrity and the American Interest sponsored a couple of weeks ago. Mr. Morgenthau warned of a growing relationship between Iran and Venezuela - a relationship that is fueling Iran's quest for nuclear weapons and which he believes poses a major threat to the United States. In his remarks, Mr. Morgenthau details how Iran is setting up shell corporations and...