Everyone lived their lives, only Rezeda lived in a dream.
How we create your morning Links post.
In a landscape of social networks, Telepath stands out because it’s more about your interests than who you know, and it requires real names for the conversations. It’s also positioning itself as a kinder, more inclusive network by making a point to establish ground rules and moderation up front. – Protocol
These tools work to flag and categorize potentially harmful comments before a human can review them, helping to manage the workload and reduce the visibility of toxic content. Another approach that’s gained steam is to give commenters automated feedback, encouraging them to rethink a toxic comment before they hit publish. – Wired
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Ghost
companies in Canada, Russian mirror trades, North Korean money moving
through U.S. banks, Miami’s role in money laundering, and more.
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A ‘ghost’
company – registered in the Canadian city of Calgary – employed Oleg
Niculescu, who died when his fishing trawler sank. According to
CBC/Radio-Canada, the story highlights the country’s scarce corporate
accountability. NBC reports that North Korea had an “elaborate” scheme
using a string of shell companies that moved money through U.S. banks.
The Miami Herald and McClatchy looked at many things, including the
role of Miami in major money laundering scandals. And BuzzFeed News
reports on Deutsche Bank’s mirror trades … and about a mysterious
company (there is a pattern here!) called ASK Trading.
TRY
HARDER
That was the
message from a high-level United Nations panel last week, which
announced banks and governments were doing little to tackle tax abuses,
money laundering and corruption. The panel’s co-chair Dalia
Grybauskaitė said “too many governments are stuck in the past … we’re
all being robbed, especially the world’s poor.” Just
days after the first FinCEN Files stories were published, the panel
lauded the work of reporters – including ICIJ and our network –
for helping to generate the “sustained national political will” to
force change.
The first
United States taxpayer charged with crimes connected to our 2016
investigation, Panama Papers, could spend four years in prison for wire
and tax fraud, money laundering, false statements and other charges.
Judge Richard M. Berman said it wasn’t even a question to send Harald Joachim
von der Goltz – who is 83 – to prison. “It can’t be that most of us pay
our taxes, and 17% can willy-nilly
disrespect the law,” he said, referring to government
research about the scale of tax avoidance and evasion.
Massachusetts-based
accountant Richard Gaffey will spend more than three years in prison
after pleading guilty to eight crimes – including conspiracy to commit
tax evasion. Judge Berman (who also proceeded over the aforementioned
case) said: “We just can’t have CPAs [certified public accountants] and
attorneys and other professionals using their special skills and
expertise so blatantly
and obviously to violate the law for financial gain.”
In Malta
police arrested Keith Schembri, the country’s former top government
adviser, and his auditor, Brian Tonna. The arrests are in connection with
alleged
kickbacks from passport sales to wealthy Russians. It
comes after Schembri was forced to resign last November after being
implicated in the 2017 car-bomb murder of investigative journalist
Daphne Caruana Galizia. Developments in this story are ongoing - I’d
recommend following our member Jacob
Borg for all the latest.
U.S.
lawmakers have taken steps to ban the import of goods connected with
forced labor in China. Last week, the House of Representatives voted in
favor of the ban, which would stop “certain products” from Xinjiang,
the region in northwest China known for being home to the country’s
internment camps – and forced labor. “We must send a clear
message to Beijing: these abuses must end now,” said
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. China Cables revealed how Uighur detainees
were sent – under police watch – from camps to job sites.
Thanks for reading.
Until Tuesday!
Amy Wilson-Chapman
ICIJ’s
community engagement 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 with the hashtag #FinCENFiles. Send them an
email now!
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ICIJ's
partners investigated suspicious transactions linked to corruption,
schemes involving food and housing programs for the poor, and more.
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From transactions linked to
Olympic bids, fugitive financiers and terrorist organizations, see key
stories by ICIJ’s media partners in Asia.
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The investigation on global
banking has prompted action in the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Portugal.
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The FinCEN Files
investigation exposes tensions between British bank’s New York and London
operations.
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The senators want tougher
consequences for banks and their executives who move money linked to
crime and corruption.
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Where in the world is
Pantheon Worldwide? Not even its own bank can say.
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Secret transactions, lost
jobs, worker injuries, gutted buildings, unpaid bills: Ihor Kolomoisky’s
untold American legacy.
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The Kaloti probe offers
rare insight into the illicit gold trade.
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A handful of secretive
agencies mass-produce U.K. shell companies owned by criminals and
launderers.
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Europe’s biggest bank
aided massive Ponzi scheme while on probation over ties to drug kingpins.
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The FinCEN
Files show public money pouring out of the collapsing country.
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Trillions in tainted
dollars flow freely through major banks, swamping a broken enforcement
system.
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From Ukraine to the United
States, from Tunisia to Turkmenistan, FinCEN Files details the
punishing human cost of laundered trillions.
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These are the people
zipping money across the world thanks to the global banking system.
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The FinCEN Files
investigation reveals the role of global banks in industrial-scale money
laundering.
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We explain the role of
U.S.-based correspondent banks in facilitating the global flow of dirty
money.
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How we turned a leak into
usable information exposing the futility of anti-money laundering
efforts.
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More than 400 reporters from 88 countries came together to investigate.
This is how it happened.
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A 16-month long
cross-border investigation involving more than 400 reporters.
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Financial institution
employees are the world’s first line of defense against money laundering.
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Although Albert Camus does not come up in WHO'S YOUR DEATH HERO? — a conversation between the filmmaker Richard Kern and the writer who goes by the name of Supervert — he would be my candidate in answer to the title. Camus's declaration, “I want to keep my lucidity to... Read more
