A comprehensive Senate Finance Committee investigation led by Senator Ron Wyden uncovered massive financial evidence demonstrating Jeffrey Epstein’s complex international money laundering and trafficking operations. The Treasury Department’s analysis revealed over 4,725 wire transfers …
Senate Finance CommitteeRon WydenTreasury DepartmentJeffrey EpsteinRussian banks+3 morejeffrey-epsteinrussian-oligarchsmoney-launderinghuman-traffickingsenate-investigation+4 more
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists releases its Cyprus Confidential investigation exposing Wyoming as America’s premier secrecy jurisdiction, having overtaken Delaware for the most corporate registrations per capita. Analysis by corporate data firm OpenCorporates shows …
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)ConnectedSkyWyoming LegislatureOpenCorporatesTransparency Internationalwyomingtax-havenmoney-launderingllcshell-companies+5 more
A federal jury convicts Sam Bankman-Fried on all seven criminal counts including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering in what federal prosecutors describe as ‘one of the biggest financial frauds in American history.’ The conviction follows a …
Sam Bankman-FriedFTXAlameda ResearchU.S. Department of JusticeCaroline Ellison+1 morecorruptionfraudregulatory-capturetechcryptocurrency+3 more
FTX cryptocurrency exchange, Alameda Research, and over 100 affiliated entities file for bankruptcy following the exposure of systematic fraud by founder Sam Bankman-Fried. The collapse was triggered on November 2 when CoinDesk revealed that Alameda Research—FTX’s affiliated trading firm owned …
Sam Bankman-FriedFTXAlameda ResearchChangpeng ZhaoBinance+2 morecorruptionfraudregulatory-capturetechcryptocurrency+3 more
A court in the British Virgin Islands ordered the liquidation of Three Arrows Capital (3AC), a Singapore-based cryptocurrency hedge fund that managed $10 billion in assets just months earlier, after the firm lost over $3 billion and defaulted on hundreds of millions in loans to crypto lenders. …
Three Arrows CapitalKyle DaviesSu ZhuMonetary Authority of SingaporeDubai Financial Services Authority+4 morecryptoregulatory-capturefraudhedge-fund-collapsesystemic-risk+3 more
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission ordered Tether Holdings Limited to pay a $41 million civil penalty for making untrue and misleading statements about the reserves backing its USDT stablecoin, the world’s largest stablecoin with over $69 billion in circulation. The CFTC found that from …
Tether Holdings LimitedCFTCDawn StumpBitfinexSecurities and Exchange Commission (SEC)cryptoregulatory-capturefraudstablecoinsystemic-risk+3 more
BuzzFeed News and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists published the FinCEN Files, revealing more than $2 trillion in suspicious banking transactions reported to the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network between 1999 and 2017. The files contained over 2,100 Suspicious …
FinCENBuzzFeed NewsInternational Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)Deutsche BankHSBC+4 moremoney-launderingbankingfinancial-crimeregulatory-failuresuspicious-transactions+2 more
Michael Gronager, Jonathan Levin, and Jan Møller found Chainalysis in late 2014, creating the first startup dedicated to Bitcoin tracing for government agencies and financial institutions. The company emerges from Gronager’s work investigating the Mt. Gox cryptocurrency exchange collapse, …
By 2014, anonymous Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) and shell companies had become the primary infrastructure enabling Russian oligarchs and other kleptocrats to launder an estimated $300 billion or more annually into US real estate. Unlike most developed nations, the United States imposed no …
U.S. TreasuryFinCENRussian OligarchsUS real estate industrymoney-launderingrussian-oligarchsreal-estateshell-companiesfincen+3 more
Elliptic is founded in London by Adam Joyce, Tom Robinson, and James Smith, becoming the first company to develop cryptoasset anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance tools based on blockchain analytics. The company pioneers the application of blockchain forensics to track illicit …
On December 11, 2008, FBI agents arrested Bernard L. Madoff for orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history, worth approximately $65 billion and affecting 37,000 victims across 136 countries. Madoff, former chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market, confessed to his sons on December 9 that his …
Bernie MadoffFederal Bureau of InvestigationSecurities and Exchange Commission (SEC)Harry Markopolosfraudregulatory-capturesecponzi-schemefinancial-crime+3 more
On November 7, 2005, financial analyst Harry Markopolos submitted his third and most detailed complaint to the SEC, a report entitled ‘The World’s Largest Hedge Fund is a Fraud,’ outlining approximately 30 red flags indicating that Bernie Madoff was operating a Ponzi scheme, which …
Harry MarkopolosSecurities and Exchange Commission (SEC)Bernie Madofffraudregulatory-capturesecponzi-schemefinancial-crime+3 more
Enron filed for bankruptcy on December 2, 2001, marking the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history at the time, with $63.4 billion in assets. The collapse revealed extensive corporate fraud orchestrated by CEO Kenneth Lay and President Jeffrey Skilling, who manipulated financial statements and …
EnronKenneth LayJeffrey SkillingDick CheneyGeorge W. Bushenronbankruptcycorporate-fraudcorruptionfinancial-crime+2 more
On September 23, 1998, Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William McDonough orchestrated a $3.6 billion bailout of hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM) by convincing 14 major banks and brokerage firms to inject capital in exchange for 90% ownership of the failing fund. Founded by …
William McDonoughAlan GreenspanJohn MeriwetherLong-Term Capital ManagementFederal Reserve Bank of New Yorkfinancial-crimeregulatory-capturefederal reservebailoutsystemic-risk+3 more
Agha Hasan Abedi established the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) in Luxembourg, creating an international bank with initial capital from Bank of America and Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. BCCI rapidly expanded to become the seventh-largest private bank in the world before being …
Agha Hasan AbediSheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al NahyanBank of Americabankingfinancial-crimeinternational-bankingmoney-launderingregulatory-capture