|
Welcome back!
I promised in this newsletter a couple of weeks ago that, after exposing a fundamentally flawed global banking system with our FinCEN Files investigation, we were also speaking with experts about what could be changed. This week, we've been flooded with suggestions that range from jailing the bankers, through to allowing the companies at the heart of the system to "help" with the fixes. In the meantime, we'll keep digging for more stories. Have an inside tip for us? Get in touch!
The FinCEN Files shows us that the biggest banks in the world are moving vast amounts of money for criminals, corrupt regimes and other shady characters. So, what's to be done? We spoke with finance, legal and offshore experts about six solutions that they say could help stem the flow of dirty money around the world.
Expanding on one of those six solutions, a prominent U.S. senator has called for harsher penalties for bank executives who profit from moving criminal cash. "I think if some bankers go to jail, that stuff stops happening," Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, told us. "One or two big-deal bankers going to jail, and the world will change a bit."
A trade group representing firms that specialize in setting up secret companies has been lobbying the British government to be allowed to help implement fixes to the U.K.'s much-abused register of companies. Anti-money-laundering experts are skeptical — one told us it would be like "asking the fox to look after the chickens."
German prosecutors have dropped their probe into Deutsche Bank's ties to an Estonian dirty money scandal, and have instead opted to fine the bank $15.8 million for its failure, on more than 600 occasions, to promptly submit reports that would have alerted criminal investigators to suspicious transactions.
A group of British lawmakers has called for sanctions against Chinese officials responsible for human rights violations against the Uighur minority and for trade restrictions on goods made with forced Uighur labor.
Thanks for reading!
Hamish Boland-Rudder
ICIJ's online editor
P.S. If you've enjoyed our coverage this week, remember to tell your friends and family and share our work on social media. Send them an email now!
|
