In this episode of “Financial Crime Matters,” Kieran talks with Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, Senior Director of the Counter-Extremism Project about the current violent threats posed by Islamic radicals, and right-wing and left-wing extremist groups.

Drawing on his expertise as Senior Director of the Counter Extremism Project and years of diplomatic service, Hans names the extremist organizations that currently threaten to unleash global violence.

While detailing some of the catalysts for the militancy of these organizations, including ongoing conflict in the Middle East and Africa, and political polarization in the United States and Europe, Hans also discusses what financial institutions and government can do individually and in concert to cut off funding to terror groups

Countering Violent Extremist Groups, with Hans-Jakob Schindler

On the margins of the ACAMS Hollywood Assembly, Justine sat down with Laura Ferris, The Sentry, to discuss illicit financial flows linked to environmental crime. Their discussion includes assessing the distinct overlap between environmental crime, sanctions, and corruption, as well as a spotlight on the illegal logging trade – including how funds are laundered, the current state of global action to address the trade, and how organizations should think about their related supply chain risk.

Laura Ferris is Senior Policy Advisor, Illegal Logging at The Sentry. Find out more here.
https://thesentry.org/about/

Laura Ferris on Sanctions, Corruption, and Illegal Logging

At the ACAMS Europe Assembly in Paris, Justine sat down with Stephanie Baker, Senior Writer, Bloomberg. Their discussion includes how Russia has exploited loopholes to circumvent sanctions and export controls and continue financing its war, how Russia’s wartime economy may impact peace negotiations, and how the new economic tool of ‘secondary tariffs’ could potentially play out.

Stephanie recently published a book titled ‘Punishing Putin: Inside the Global Economic War to Bring Down Russia’. You can find further details here: Punishing Putin — Stephanie Baker | Writer & Journalist https://stephaniebakerwriter.com/punishing-putin

Stephanie Baker on Punishing Putin

In this episode of “Financial Crime Matters,” Kieran talks with Andy Greenberg, senior writer at WIRED and author of the blockchain forensic thriller “Tracers In The Dark.” Halfway into their conversation, they are joined by Tigran Gambaryan, head of financial crime compliance at Binance and a former IRS-CI investigator.

Andy, Tigran and Kieran discuss Tigran’s detention by Nigerian authorities for 8 months as part of the government's effort to force Binance to pay billions in penalties, which was the subject of an in-depth WIRED article by Andy. They also talk about Tigran’s role as a blockchain forensics pioneer documented by Andy in “Tracers In The Dark,” and what each sees as the opportunities and challenges associated with the rise of digital assets.

Blockchain Forensics and Surviving Detention in Nigeria, with Tigran Gambaryan and Andy Greenberg.

In this episode of “Financial Crime Matters,” Kieran talks with Sara Brimbeuf, head of the illicit financial flows program at Transparency International France.

Sara and Kieran discuss TI France's efforts to fight bribery and corruption in conjunction with TI chapters around the globe and the non-governmental agency's current efforts to bring to justice French intermediaries accused of aiding global leaders in laundering the proceeds of corruption.

Sara also describes the uses and limits of TI's well-known "Corruption Perception Index," and its new benchmark, the Opacity in Real Estate Ownership (OREO) Index, which tracks 24 jurisdictions' requirements for disclosure of real estate ownership, as well as TI France's fight for transparency in corporate ownership in general in France.

Fighting Corruption at Home and Abroad, with TI France's Sara Brimbeuf

In this episode of "Financial Crime Matters" Kieran talks with John Tobon, former assistant director for the Department of Homeland Security Investigations' Countering Transnational Crime and Terrorism Division, to set the stage for ACAMS' upcoming Assembly Latin America in Cancun, July 21- 22, 2025. In this fast-moving conversation, John and Kieran discuss Chinese underground money laundering, migration and money laundering, and the state of public private partnerships in Latin America. https://www.acams.org/en/events/the-assembly/the-assembly-latam

Uncovering Links to Chinese Underground Laundering and More:LatAm Conference Special with John Tobon

In this episode of "Financial Crime Matters," Kieran talks with Renata Furst Galvão about identity theft, focusing on the theft of children’s identities for financial exploitation. Renata recounts the theft of her own identity as a six-year-old child and the tremendous burden it placed on her until her financial records were cleared of debt in her late twenties. Renata draws on her experience as a victim as detailed in the YouTube documentary short “One in Fifty” and the expertise she subsequently achieved in her professional life as partner manager for risk intelligence at the LSEG Group. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU-lC6_801E

Fighting identity theft and the financial exploitation of children, with Renata Furst Galvão

At the ACAMS Las Vegas Assembly, Justine sat down with Alex Zerden, Capitol Peak Strategies. Their discussion covers a range of U.S. sanctions priorities, including significant action undertaken on both drug cartels and Iran, easing measures on Syria, and the implications of a U.S.-backed stablecoin.

Alex Zerden is the Founder and Principal of Capitol Peak Strategies, a risk advisory firm based in Washington, DC. Capitol Peak works with leading financial institutions, companies and organizations to navigate emerging technologies, financial regulation, and economic crisis. 

Alex Zerden on the Middle East, Crypto, Cartels and Changing U.S. Priorities

In this episode of "Financial Crime Matters," Kieran talks with AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas about his agency's efforts to implement a vast extension of Australia's anti-money laundering regime to about 80,000 new entities under legislation commonly referred to as T2.

In service to those efforts, Brendan details AUSTRAC's outreach to law firms, accountants, real estate agencies and other designated non-financial businesses and persons who will be required to create an anti-money laundering (AML) risk analysis, appoint an AML officer and be ready to file suspicious matters reports by July 2026. 

Key to Australia's need to come into compliance with the Financial Action Task Force's global standards, the extension of AML regulation is also central to the country's plan to actually stem the flood of illicit funds from transnational crime organizations into Australia's banking, gaming, real estate, precious metals and other sectors, Brendan says. 

As part of its commitment to effectuate more fund seizures and prosecutions, Brendan discusses how the AUSTRAC initiative will also utilize public-private information sharing, embodied by the country's Fintel Alliance, increased staffing, and AI and other technological tools to weaponize what will ultimately be 100,000 anti-financial crime reporting entities under T2.

Embarking on a New Anti-Financial Crime Era, with AUSTRAC's Brendan Thomas

At the ACAMS Las Vegas Assembly, Justine sat down with Carole House, Senior Distinguished Fellow, ACAMS. Their discussion includes the AFC implications of generative artificial intelligence, including increasing sophistication of deepfakes and the resulting  ‘authenticity crisis’, how we can build resilience to the threat, and trends in cyber-enabled sanctions evasion.

Carole House recently joined ACAMS as a Senior Distinguished Fellow. Among Carole’s many prominent and senior roles, she previously served as the White House National Security Council (NSC) special advisor for cybersecurity and critical infrastructure policy.

Carole House on AI, Cyber and Sanctions

In this podcast series, Kieran Beer (Chief Analyst at ACAMS) interviews the movers and shakers of the anti-financial crime world. 

Listen for fast-paced conversations about the latest financial scandal to hit newsstands, and insights on trending Financial Crime topics. 
 
Have something you’d like to hear covered? Email Kieran on podcasts@acams.org and tell us what matters to you. You can also follow Kieran on twitter www.twitter.com/kieranbeer

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