#Financial Secrecy Index

[siliconpalms]

Demystifying Offshore Finance: Understanding The Financial Secrecy Index

In the realm of international finance, the concept of financial secrecy often raises eyebrows and sparks curiosity. Understanding the dynamics of offshore finance requires delving into various metrics and indices, one of the most prominent being the Financial Secrecy Index (FSI). In this article, we aim to demystify the Financial Secrecy Index, its significance, and its implications for investors…

[democracyatwrk]

Economic Update: Social & Labor Movements Claim Real Victories

"Update on Nobel Prize in economics to Harvard Prof. Claudia Goldin; comment on Maine/Halloween shootings, global financial secrecy index and President Biden's pursuit of money for war. Major segments on (i) UAW strike victories at Ford, GM and Stellantis, and (ii) abortion access victory in France."

[female-malice]

“We are trying to show that the US is the easiest place to hide dirty money, which is a major problem not just in terms of national security, drug trafficking and kleptocratic corruption but also environmental crime,” said Ian Gary, the executive director of the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (Fact) Coalition, which produced the report.

For the first time in 2021, the US came top in the world financial secrecy index released by the Tax Justice Networks, as a result of money laundering and gaps in its financial transparency laws.

The report identifies two principal flaws in the US regulation of financial flows from other countries: permissive rules on identification that allow the use of anonymous shell companies; and gaping holes in the anti-money-laundering framework that enable estate agents and refineries to accept payments without checking and disclosing the origin of funds.

Earlier this year, the Igarapé Institute estimated that environmental crime in the Amazon generated annual profits of between $110bn and $281bn, though it has been a relatively low priority for financial authorities in Latin America. Investigations by the Insight Crime website suggest the problem may be growing as links build between environmental crime, narco-trafficking and money-laundering networks in Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador.

The Fact report urges the US to take more responsibility because it is the primary destination for illegal funds, followed by the UK and its crown dependencies such as the Cayman Islands.

Among its recommendations are for the US administration to establish anti-money-laundering obligations in the real estate market, to provide support for Amazon nations to improve financial oversight, and to implement the Corporate Transparency Act, which would establish a database of true “beneficial” owners of all companies. It also calls on the US Congress to pass the Forest Act, which would add illegal deforestation to the US money-laundering statute.

“The US needs to step up,” Gary said. “Our report shows the importance of the US cleaning up its own financial secrecy house and the need to collaborate with law enforcement partners in the Amazon region to combat illegal financial flows … for the US to have such financial secrecy is a problem for the whole world.” (continue reading)

[srkshaju]

Republican Rivals Duel for Dollars: Net Worths Ahead of First Debate

While the first Republican presidential debate heats up in Wisconsin, the candidates' bank accounts are drawing just as much attention.

https://cutt.ly/fwGJhwR4

With Donald Trump opting out (surprise!), the spotlight falls on the contenders vying for the party's nomination and their financial firepower.

Doug Burgum: This North Dakota governor, boasting a cool $1.1 billion, reigns supreme as the wealthiest candidate. His tech empire, Great Plains Software, built his fortune, leaving him second only to Illinois's Democratic governor in terms of state leader net worth.

Chris Christie: Estimates for the former New Jersey governor's wealth vary, with some whispers of $19 million and others settling around $5 million. His legal career and political ventures, including a stint as US Attorney and governor, have contributed to his coffers.

Ron DeSantis: Florida's controversial governor, despite his recent popularity surge, trails the pack with a modest $1.17 million. His salary and book advance barely hold a candle to his predecessor's $255 million net worth.

Nikki Haley: The former South Carolina governor and ambassador navigated a rocky financial past before her $8 million fortune blossomed. Post-Trump administration, lucrative speaking engagements and book deals fueled her financial comeback.

Asa Hutchinson: Arkansas's ex-governor, raised on a farm, boasts a down-to-earth $1.5 million. His house and government pensions form the bulk of his wealth.

Mike Pence: From congressman to governor to Trump's vice president, it took Pence nearly two decades to become a millionaire.

His public speaking tour and book deals have since quadrupled his net worth to $4 million.

Vivek Ramaswamy: This Ivy League-educated candidate, with a $630 million fortune, is the debate's second-richest contender.

His successful biotech company and "anti-woke" index fund provider have made him a Wall Street heavyweight.

Tim Scott: This South Carolina senator, aiming for historic firsts, has amassed a $3.88 million net worth. His insurance career and congressional salary paved the way for his political aspirations.

The Absent Billionaire: Donald Trump, despite his refusal to participate, remains the financial elephant in the room.

His estimated $2.5 billion, shrouded in secrecy and controversy, continues to be a topic of much speculation.

As the Republican race heats up, the candidates' financial profiles offer another layer of intrigue.

From tech titans to governors on the rise, their diverse fortunes paint a fascinating picture of the party's landscape.

Who will emerge victorious on the debate stage, and will their bank accounts play a role in their ultimate success? Only time will tell.

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[usagimen]

                            @kuraikyu  :  💭 / uwu 🔪

       “I believe you owe me deeply for sorting out the financial mess the family continuously finds itself in” snickering coyly, she remarks without a second glance, gaze straightforward - unable to view the past or what is to her side. Calloused digits that rest upon the fabric of her modern attire, then, with a quickness she turns to capture the tip of his nose between her index && thumb. Playful, even when chiding, the warmth from her palms like electricity that dances when she beckons, pulsating with the vibrancy of an everlasting moon. “I sometimes question the root of your ambition, this foolish notion that there is a utopia that can be built solely for the strong, who are you to bestow such a gift upon us? Only Gods can” stabbing, each word that was precise in the way she spoke with eloquence && ease.

        Without power, one could not protect anything, the life of a jushiki sorcerer was often overlooked && to those who walked among them bearing the same blight, fodder - another sacrifice for the feast. “It’s coddling, deep down you must know the truth, it won’t flourish. Though, it feels cruel to disarm your dreams, even I carry such hopes in my heart” whatever they may be, she would not say, that was the nature of an enigmatic figure who preferred the air of secrecy. The devilish charm in her eyes twinkle as she examines each feature, the pad of her fingertips memorizing, absorbing every detail until she giggles - girlish, airy, even sweet.

             “Whatever may happen, I’ll remain ever by your side, just try to be nicer to our investors - don’t make me beg”  

[xtruss]

An aerial view of An Illegal Gold Mine in Triangulo de Telembi, Colombia. Photograph: Daniel Munoz/AFP/Getty

Environmental Crime Money Easy to Stash in US Due to Loopholes, Report Finds

Secrecy and lax oversight mean illegal loggers and miners in Amazon can park billions in real estate and other assets

— Jonathan Watts | Thursday 26 October 2023

Secrecy and lax oversight have made the US a hiding place for dirty money accrued by environmental criminals in the Amazon rainforest, a report says.

Illegal loggers and miners are parking sums ranging from millions to billions of dollars in US real estate and other assets, says the report, which calls on Congress and the White House to close loopholes in financial regulations that it says are contributing to the destruction of the world’s biggest tropical forest.

“We are trying to show that the US is the easiest place to hide dirty money, which is a major problem not just in terms of national security, drug trafficking and kleptocratic corruption but also environmental crime,” said Ian Gary, the executive director of the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (Fact) Coalition, which produced the report.

For the first time in 2021, the US came top in the world financial secrecy index released by the Tax Justice Networks, as a result of money laundering and gaps in its financial transparency laws.

The study by Fact draws attention to the impact this has on environmental crime in the Amazon, a region of global importance due to its impact on the climate. The report lists six case studies of links between forest destruction and companies in the US.

Florida, which has strong cultural and linguistic connections to South America, was found to be a hotspot. The report cites the case of Goldex, formerly the second biggest gold exporter in Colombia, which supplied more than 45 tonnes of gold, worth $1.4bn, to two US refineries, including Republic Metals Corp (RMC) in Miami.

Colombian prosecutors later alleged that the gold was illegally mined, transferred through shell companies and ultimately used to launder money for organised crime groups. The company was hit with sanctions by the Colombia government and one of its suppliers was extradited to the US to face charges of drug trafficking and money laundering. After an investigation by the US attorney’s office, RMC agreed to tighten its internal money laundering guidelines. Goldex has since filed for bankruptcy.

A still more lucrative case linking Miami with Amazon nations was that of NTR Metals, which pleaded guilty to charges that it failed to maintain an adequate anti-money-laundering programme after revelations that it dealt with $3.6bn (£3bn) of illegal gold and fake ingots from Peru.

Peru’s Former President Alejandro Toledo allegedly bought properties to hide and launder $1.2m he received in bribes. Photograph: AP

The problem was not isolated to Florida. In Maryland, the former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo allegedly bought properties to hide and launder $1.2m he received in bribes from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht for a contract to build the cross-Amazon interoceanic highway and other projects. Odebrecht has admitted paying bribes and a US court has ordered funds to be sent back to Peru. Toledo denies any wrongdoing.

Other case studies linked a Nevada firm to purchases of illegal timber from the Loreto region of the Peruvian Amazon, and a Connecticut company to forest clearance for a palm oil plantation in indigenous land.

Government regulators and watchdog groups in Peru said it was common for their investigations into environmental crime to run into a dead end with shell companies in the US. “We have had cases where we can directly trace the dirty money route to US company involvement,” Daniel Linares Ruesta, the director of Peru’s financial intelligence unit, was quoted as saying.

Illegal mining settlements along the interoceanic highway which connects Peru’s Pacific ports to Brazil. Photograph: Dan Collyns/The Guardian

The report identifies two principal flaws in the US regulation of financial flows from other countries: permissive rules on identification that allow the use of anonymous shell companies; and gaping holes in the anti-money-laundering framework that enable estate agents and refineries to accept payments without checking and disclosing the origin of funds.

Earlier this year, the Igarapé Institute estimated that environmental crime in the Amazon generated annual profits of between $110bn and $281bn, though it has been a relatively low priority for financial authorities in Latin America. Investigations by the Insight Crime website suggest the problem may be growing as links build between environmental crime, narco-trafficking and money-laundering networks in Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador.

The Fact report urges the US to take more responsibility because it is the primary destination for illegal funds, followed by the UK and its crown dependencies such as the Cayman Islands.

Among its recommendations are for the US administration to establish anti-money-laundering obligations in the real estate market, to provide support for Amazon nations to improve financial oversight, and to implement the Corporate Transparency Act, which would establish a database of true “beneficial” owners of all companies. It also calls on the US Congress to pass the Forest Act, which would add illegal deforestation to the US money-laundering statute.

Gary said he was encouraged that the Biden administration had called out the threat posed by corruption. Now, he said, it needed to act.

“The US needs to step up,” Gary said. “Our report shows the importance of the US cleaning up its own financial secrecy house and the need to collaborate with law enforcement partners in the Amazon region to combat illegal financial flows … for the US to have such financial secrecy is a problem for the whole world.”

[digitalbullet17]

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[informationvine]

The Ultimate Guide to Briansclub: Your One-Stop Resource for All Things Cybersecurity

Welcome to the ultimate guide to Briansclub - your go-to resource for all things cybersecurity! In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the world of Briansclub, exploring its origins, services, and the importance it holds in the realm of cybersecurity. Whether you're an individual looking to safeguard your online presence or a business seeking top-notch security solutions, Briansclub has got you covered. So, let's dive right in and unlock the secrets of Briansclub!

What is Briansclub?

Briansclub, an acclaimed platform in the cybersecurity landscape, is an exclusive marketplace for buying and selling stolen credit card data, personal information, and compromised accounts. It has gained significant notoriety over the years due to its prominent presence on the dark web. With a vast database comprising millions of records, Briansclub offers a treasure trove of valuable information to cybercriminals.

Why Briansclub Matters

As shocking as it may sound, Briansclub's existence holds immense significance in the realm of cybersecurity. By shedding light on the illicit activities taking place on platforms like Briansclub, we can better understand the evolving nature of cyber threats and work towards creating robust security measures. Briansclub serves as a stark reminder that cybercriminals are constantly devising new techniques to exploit vulnerabilities and compromise individuals and businesses alike.

The Dark Web and Briansclub

The dark web, an encrypted part of the internet not indexed by search engines, provides a safe haven for cybercriminals to carry out illicit activities. Briansclub, among numerous other nefarious platforms, thrives in the depths of the dark web, attracting cybercriminals looking to profit from stolen data. It serves as a hub for the trade of compromised information, amplifying the risk to innocent users.

Services Offered by Briansclub

1.     Stolen Credit Card Data: Briansclub boasts an extensive collection of stolen credit card information, providing cybercriminals with a means to conduct fraudulent transactions. This illicit trade fuels financial losses for individuals and businesses alike.

2.     Personal Information: From social security numbers to addresses and phone numbers, Briansclub offers a plethora of personal information that can be exploited for identity theft and various malicious activities.

3.     Compromised Accounts: Briansclub facilitates the sale of compromised accounts, including email addresses, usernames, and passwords. This enables cybercriminals to gain unauthorized access to individuals' online accounts and potentially wreak havoc on their digital lives.

How Briansclub Operates

The operation of Briansclub is shrouded in secrecy, but the general modus operandi involves cybercriminals infiltrating databases, breaching security measures, and exfiltrating valuable data. This data is then shared and sold on platforms like Briansclub, providing an underground marketplace for illicit activities.

Conclusion

Briansclub stands as a stark reminder of the ever-present threats in the digital world. By understanding its operations, we gain insight into the depths cybercriminals will go to exploit innocent individuals and businesses. It is crucial to stay informed, remain vigilant, and employ robust cybersecurity measures to protect ourselves from the likes of Briansclub. Remember, prevention is always better than cure when it comes to cybersecurity.

[writervewor]

Make visuals great again tax

The G7 struck a deal in June 2021 to start taxing multinational corporations based on the revenue generated in each country (instead of where the company is based), as well as setting a global minimum tax of 15%. While individuals might create shell companies in tax havens to hide their wealth, corporations are usually directly incorporated in the tax haven in order to defer taxes.īut the tax haven landscape might soon shift. The Tax Justice Network’s 2021 assessment of corporate tax havens listed the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, and Bermuda as the top three tax corporate tax havens. In addition, many of the countries used as tax havens for individual wealth are also utilized by corporations. Likewise, the UAE has reportedly become a tax haven for Africa’s ultra-wealthy. and Canada might not be tax havens for American or Canadian nationals, but the ultra-wealthy from East Asia and the Middle East are reported to utilize them due to holes in foreign tax laws. Some of the listed tax havens might be confusing to nationals of those countries, but that’s where relativity is important. The highest ranking jurisdictions by secrecy score were actually the Maldives, Angola and Algeria, but they represent less than 0.1% of total offshore financial services. In addition to the UK, four of the top 20 tax havens-Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Guernsey, and Jersey-are British Overseas Territories or Crown Dependencies.Īlso worth noting is the importance of scale in the rankings. They include financial powerhouses like the U.S., Japan, and the UK as well as smaller nations and territories like the Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, and Luxembourg.īut one surprising thing many of them have in common is a link to England. Just under half of the list is located in Europe, but the rest are spread out across the Americas and Asia.Īnd the jurisdictions are opposites in many ways. RankĪt a glance, the top 20 tax havens are spread out across regions. Global Scale Weight: What is the jurisdiction’s share of the world’s total cross-border financial services? This metric is based primarily on the IMF’s Balance of Payments statistics.īy weighing a country’s ability to hide money by its relative share of offshore financial services, we see the tax havens with the biggest impact on the global economy.This includes analysis of ownership registration, legal entity transparency, tax and financial regulations, and cooperation with international standards. Secrecy Score: How well the jurisdiction’s banking system can hide money.The FSI ranks countries and territories from all over the world on two criteria: secrecy and scale. Which Countries are the Biggest Tax Havens? Here are the world’s top 20 tax havens, as ranked by the 2020 Financial Secrecy Index (FSI) by the English NGO Tax Justice Network. Some of them are small nations as expected, but others are major economic powers that might be surprising. Based on pop culture and media reports, you might imagine a secretive bank in Switzerland or a tiny island nation in the Caribbean.Īnd though there is some truth to that logic, the reality is that the world’s biggest tax havens are spread all over the world. If you’re putting money in offshore bank accounts in order to save on taxes, there are two main criteria you’re looking for: secrecy and accessibility. When the world’s ultra-wealthy look for tax havens to shield income and wealth from their domestic governments, where do they turn?

[zltech]

Identify, Review and Remediate PII with Compliance

Understanding the importance of identifying, reviewing, and remediating PII and the practices best for it To summarize, data is the new superpower, and with it comes PII, which may make or break your business. As a result, you must actively identify, review, and remediate PII per industry-specific regulations. Reach out to an expert here to learn more about accomplishing it with ease.

It is reassuring that certain things remain the same year after year in a world of uncertainty and change, such as customer personally identifiable information (PII) – the most commonly exposed category of data with the highest cost per record. However, this does not have to be the case, as the report also shows that organizations using technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), analytics, and automated orchestration were the most successful in reducing data breach expenses. Some steps in doing so are to understand your industry-specific regulations, build policies, identify, de-duplicate, and defensibly delete or remediate the consumer PII from the enterprise database.

Know the Compliance Regulations

Due to the growing data privacy concerns, governments and regulatory bodies have enacted several industry-specific compliance regulations to regulate how you acquire, manage, store, use, and transfer sensitive information depending on your business location and where or who your consumers are. The following are some of the most frequent compliance requirements:

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 17a-4

Risk Assessment

After understanding which compliance regulation applies to your company, perform a risk assessment of your internal data privacy security procedures before a hacker does. You must identify the types of PII your organization has and security concerns, vulnerabilities to an attack, risk management approaches, control mechanisms, and defensive capabilities. 

Build or Update Policy

The next step would be to build or update your PII privacy policy around the idea that no PII should be kept in the company database unless it has business value. And in that case, the PII should be encrypted using best-in-class industry technology and resources.

Identify and Index PII

Various firms hold different PII types, such as credit card information held by a financial firm and healthcare data held by insurance companies. As a result, it is critical to figure out what kind of PII your organization has, why it is there, and where it is kept to be referenced later during the eDiscovery, flagging, and deletion or deletion remediation stages. This can be done using in-place file analysis management solutions.

De-duplicate PII

De-duplication is a way to get rid of all that redundant, obsolete, and trivial (ROT) data uncovered with the help of file analysis systems. This move will significantly lower the amount of your whole content collection and your PII footprint, making it much easier to maintain.

Defensibly Delete PII

While you may feel that saving as much data as possible is preferable, PII may represent a data privacy security risk if left unchecked. As a result, you must remove the PII of customers who have stopped doing business with you, workers who have left the company per the industry-specific regulations. Additionally, PII discovered on idle devices or in abandoned accounts, and people who have requested that their personal information be destroyed should also be defensibly deleted.

Classify PII as Sensitive

Not every PII is sensitive to the same degree. Email lists, for example, must still be secured, but their level of secrecy is far lower than that of client records, including credit card details. You may get a feel of what your security program needs by categorizing data according to confidentiality and the effect if their privacy is breached.

Automate Remediation

The first four stages of managing your PII footprint will help you achieve compliance in the short term. The best way to ensure privacy compliance is to regularly review and modify your internal policies and perform file analytics audits. File analytics processes can be scheduled to run every night or outside of business hours, reducing operational downtime. This takes no additional effort because you already know where all your PII is stored.

[abrar-niloy]

Disadvantages of Using Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrencies suffer from various drawbacks. It is essential to identify and understand the drawbacks and obstacles that may prevent mainstream adoption of these technologies. Some of the drawbacks are explained below-

Crypto Is Popular with Criminals:

Like many other technologies, some of the early adopters of the new technology were criminal companies. They are Bitcoin holders who are the target of fraud, using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin as a means of payment for secrecy. Bitcoin investment fraud is skyrocketing in parallel with recent currency records. The Federal Trade Commission has announced that between October 2020 and March 2021, approximately 7,000 consumers lost $ 80 million in fraud, and reported losses increased by approximately 1,000%.

Blockchain-Based Coins Are Volatile:

The question "Is blockchain a good investment?" depends on your financial objectives and risk tolerance. In 2021, the popularity of cryptocurrencies skyrocketed, and Bitcoin reached a record price of about $65,000. By the spring of 2022, however, the cost of Bitcoin and several other cryptocurrencies had dropped by more than half.

Cryptocurrency Use Is Still Limited:

Many more exchanges, brokerages, and payment applications now offer bitcoin, and many businesses, like PayPal and Microsoft, accept it as payment. Nonetheless, Bitcoin and other blockchain-based currencies are the exceptions, not the norm. Additionally, the selling of bitcoin for purchases on cash applications like PayPal requires users to pay valueital gains taxes on the bitcoin sold and any state and local taxes paid on the goods or service.

Bitcoin Mining Consumes Energy:

Bitcoin mining uses a network of high-speed computers that require large amounts of power. According to the University of Cambridge's Power Usage Index, if the Bitcoin system is a country, it ranks 34th in the Netherlands and the Philippines in terms of power consumption. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in May 2021 that automakers would stop accepting Bitcoin unless digital currencies found a solution to reduce carbon emissions. Alternative blockchain developers have created energy-efficient alternatives.

Conclusion:

Even if you complete the technology and eliminate all of the above issues, the risk of investing in it is high until it is adopted and regulated by the federal government. Most of the other problems with technology are logistics. For example, protocol changes required as technology improves can be very time-consuming and disrupt the normal flow of operations.

[caymannewsservice]

Cayman tops TJN 2020 Secrecy Index

Cayman tops TJN 2020 Secrecy Index

Alex Cobham, Tax Justice Network chief executive

(CNS): The Cayman Islands government hit back at the Tax Justice Network after it topped the TJN Financial Secrecy Indexthis year for the first time, which happened on the same day that Cayman became the only UK Overseas Territory to be blacklisted by the European Union. Officials here criticised TJN’s methodology and accused it of ignoring the…

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Jackpot watch: How the klept operates in the UK

In his 2014 novel The Peripheral, William Gibson plunges us into a far-future London, radically depopulated, quietly authoritarian, and under the iron thumb of “the Klept” — a fusion of the British chumocracy with post-Soviet Eurasian kleptoracy.

https://memex.craphound.com/2014/10/28/the-peripheral-william-gibson-vs-william-gibson/

The origins of this society — its depopulation, its neo-aristocracy, its captivity to inscrutable AIs called “the Aunties” are lost to history. They all took place during a time called “The Jackpot,” an interregnum where huge swathes of records simply vanished amid social breakdown, climate emergencies and cyberwar.

Gibson will be the first to tell you that he’s not attempting prophecy with his work, but it can’t be denied that he has an eerie ability to reflect back our latent, inchoate fears about the future in fiction, something he calls “predicting the present.”

When I emigrated from the UK to the US in 2016, I explained my reasons in a post called “Why I’m Leaving London.” The basic reason? The increasing obviousness of a city that existed primarily to launder vast, corrupt fortunes, and only incidentally be a place where Londoners could live and thrive.

https://memex.craphound.com/2015/06/29/why-im-leaving-london/

Since then, the UK — and especially the City of London, home of the nation’s finances — has doubled down on its role as enabler and concierges to the world’s filthiest money, and the psychopaths who come with it. The UK and its overseas territories consistently top the Tax Justice Network’s annual “Financial Secrecy Index.”

https://fsi.taxjustice.net/en/

Not all corrupt money comes from the former Soviet republics of Eurasia, but these countries — and Russia — embody a special kind of corruption: kleptocracy (“a political economy dominated by a small number of people/entities with close links to the state”).

This form of corruption is closely related to the chumocracy that dominates British politics, and especially the ruling Conservative party. Thus it should come as no surprise that the UK, with its Thatcher- and Blair-era emphasis on finance, and its political compatibility with kleptocracy, is a linchpin in global kleptocratic money-laundering and corruption.

“The UK’s kleptocracy problem,” is Chatham House’s deeply reported white paper on the connections between Eurasian kleptocrats and the UK political system, its finance sector, its charities, its libel laws, its property market, and its luxury goods sector.

https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/12/uks-kleptocracy-problem/01-introduction

The paper shows how the UK is a one-stop shop for corrupt, wealthy public officials from Eurasian kleptocracies. The UK’s finance sector will launder your money. Its Home Office will sell you citizenship via a “golden visa.” Its estate agents will convert the money to multimillion-pound mansions and “superflats.” Its charities will launder your reputation and recast you as a philanthropist. Its billion-pound mega-law firms and “reputation mangers” will destroy your critics and terrorize their publishers, cleansing you of sin with expert use of Britain’s notoriously bully-friendly libel laws. And while it’s all going on, the country’s luxury department stores will offer you white-glove service as you spend millions on gem-crusted, bespoke trinkets.

The UK’s role as concierge to the klept spills over beyond either the UK or Eurasia’s borders. Not only do oligarchs buy influence with British governments and regulators, they also use their London-washed money to funnel bribes to politicians around the world. Think here of the Azerbaijani Laundromat, in which $2.9B was funneled through 4 UK shell companies and converted, in part, to bribes paid to EU politicians.

UK politicians (both Labour and Tory) have managed to divert interest from this influx of unsavory plutocrats and instead focus on hardworking, everyday people who come to the UK to do hard, everyday work. For forty years, British politics has been dominated by xenophobic terror of “economic migrants” (a major factor in Brexit), with complaints about foreigners competing for housing and resources. Meanwhile, the issue of ultrawealthy kleptocrats coming to Britain to buy its football teams, entire swathes of its major cities, its newspapers, and its politicians has largely gone unremarked-upon.

Neoliberal economists describe the UK as a post-industrial nation focused on “services” — not the “service sector” (plumbers, waiters, cab drivers), but high-ticket services like “wealth management,” “legal strategy,” “investment counsel,” “reputation management,” “property management” and so on.

These “service-providers” are more properly known as “enablers.” The reputation management industry — which draws on all these services — describes its role in helping clients create “coherent narratives” about their identity and wealth, helps them steer clear of “out of place” investments, and identifies foundations and think tanks that they can support to be known as “philanthropists.”

Enablers don’t just help craft a public-facing narrative for oligarchs, though: they’re just as skilled at creating an opaque bubble of secrecy around the parts of oligarchs’ lives that are less savory. Britons are firehosed with information about kleptocrats’ philanthropic activities and endorsements by members of the British elite, but we almost never hear about the klepts’ private wealth, investment and assets.

Britain’s borders are notoriously hostile to working people, but they are extremely porous when it comes to the klept. The “Tier 1 Investor visa” is a golden passport by another name — a way to spend a pittance for freedom of motion between the looted, authoritarian states of Eurasia and the UK. Don’t let the “investor” fool you: there’s no good evidence that the “investments” required under the scheme have a positive effect on the real economy.

The British political class will tell you that the UK has advanced anti-money laundering controls, with scrutiny of politically exposed persons and those holding passports from high-risk countries. These laws are deceptive though.

For example, a “high-risk” nation is one without good money laundering regulations — including countries like Jamaica, which are not particularly prominent the global corruption industry. Meanwhile, Eurasian countries with strong anti-laundering laws that are never enforced are considered low risk, because risk is calculated based on the existence of a law, not its enforcement.

Meanwhile, the rules that require estate agents, bankers, and luxury goods dealers to report transactions from “Politically Exposed Persons” (PEPs) are riddled with loopholes and primarily enforced through nonexistent self-regulation. For example, a politician’s immediately family cease to be PEPs the day the politician leaves office — so a corrupt dictator’s kids can buy a £60m Knightsbridge property the day their dad steps down, with no reporting requirement.

Even when solicitors, estate agents, and other covered professionals are caught ignoring the reporting rules, they face tiny fines and no lasting penalties. Many offer the defense that they didn’t know they were working for PEPs — thus there’s an incentive to simply not ask any questions when someone shows up looking to spend 8 or 9 figures through your firm.

Perversely, the finance sector goes overboard in the other direction, with an approach that is “risk-averse” and “also risk-insensitive.” UK banks floor the financial regulator with “Suspicious Activity Reports” (SARs), filing these whenever a transaction has even a glancing contact with Eurasia. The regulator — grossly understaffed — ignores nearly all of these SARs, and the transactions proceed, with the banks’ asses now covered by dint of having filed the SAR.  Another failing of UK anti-corruption law is its emphasis on identifying and blocking the proceeds of “crime,” rather than “corruption.” When an oligarch loots, it’s only a crime if the state decides it is. The Kazakh oligarch Nurali Aliyev loaned himself $65m from the bank he chaired and used it to buy a Highgate mansion (“there is no evidence to suggest the loan was repaid”). Kazakh authorities did not class this as a theft, so UK anti-corruption law has little to say about it.

The flip side of this is that when oligarchs fall out of favor and go into self-exile in London, their adversaries back home can use the UK authorities to exact revenge at a distance, by selectively classifying their wealth as criminal assets and ratting them out to the British authorities.

(Of course, oligarch-on-oligarch warfare isn’t limited to pitting rivals against UK tax authorities; there’s also spectacular acts of violence, including assassination by nerve agent and radioactive poison).

A key enabler of the klept in the UK is the nation’s great law firms, whose waves of mergers have produced chambers that generate more than £1b in annual billings. These firms offer full service — papering over the purchases of giant mansions, and suing the newspapers, publishers and reporters who write about them. Britain’s libel laws — much-admired by Trump — are a great help here. I’ve been on the receiving end of these threats, personally, and was forced to delete a truthful account of a billionaire’s financial stake in a firm that is implicated in human rights abuses around the world. The report cites a British journalist who estimates that “upwards of 50% of critical material about oligarchs ends up on the cutting-room floor” as newspaper lawyers force redactions of materials known to be true.

The British charitable sector is a favorite source of reputation laundering for keptocrats, especially charities associated with the British royal family, but also great universities and prominent think-tanks. Charities and universities have come to depend on private money more and more over the past 20 years, as austerity has starved them of public money. That makes them especially vulnerable to co-option by kleptocrats. As interested as oligarchs are in being associated with the charitable sector, they’re even more interested in funding the UK Conservative Party itself. The Tories’ co-chairman Ben Elliot has formalized a “cash for access” arrangement where major donors are invited to private events and dinners with ministers and the PM. Elliot is a natural to court oligarchs for the Tories; his day job is running a “luxury concierge service” called Quintessentially, which provides “services” to the ultra wealthy. Elliot’s spox says that this work is “entirely separate” from his work as co-chair of the Tories.

The Made-in-Britain enablers of the klept will tell you that the fortunes they facilitate are not criminal fortunes, and the Home Office will tell you that its focus is on Eurasian criminal gangs. But as the Pandora Papers — and other vast finance leaks — show us, the criminal wealth of the former Soviet Union is minute when compared to the oligarchs’ fortunes.

The klept isn’t criminal, because the klept writes the laws.

This is how the Jackpot starts.

[darkweblinksguide]

How to Find the Darkest Web Links

The dark web is the internet without advertising. It is a vast resource where information can be freely shared. This site is hidden from search engines, making it ideal for people who need to communicate with an opponent in complete secrecy. It operates through a network known as Tor, and each website has a ".onion" URL. It is easy to download and free to use. If you're looking to share information with people around the world, then the dark web is the best option.

The dark web is unregulated, and because of this, you can be susceptible to malware and viruses. It's best to install a VPN or antivirus on your computer before using it. This way, you can protect your privacy and keep your data secure. If you are still not comfortable browsing this kind of site, you can use a free search engine like Google. However, be sure to use caution as some of these sites are not trustworthy.

Another disadvantage of dark web links is that they're hard to remember. The alphanumeric style of the names on the links can be difficult to remember. To avoid this problem, bookmark the links you find. Updated search engines are also a good option. One of the most popular search engines is Hidden wiki. It has an indexing system that shows the corresponding names for each website. This makes it easier to locate the exact URLs you're looking for.

As with any site, the dark web can be dangerous, but it's still a great way to browse the internet anonymously. As long as you follow safe practices and don't click on any suspicious sites, you should be fine. Hopefully, these tips have been helpful to you. Take a look! How to Find The Darkest Web Links! The Darkest Internet Can Be a Dangerous Place! Here's How

Using a reputable search engine is essential for the safest browsing. Search engines don't want to index a site that doesn't offer a guarantee of privacy. You can use the dark web to find the websites you're looking for. Nonetheless, the darkest online sites aren't the only ones that can be harmful. The privacy of these sites will be at risk. If you're not careful, you could end up being a victim of a cyber criminal.

If you're concerned about your privacy, you can try to keep your privacy intact by using the dark web. It's not safe to share personal information with anyone. So, you need to be careful when using the dark web. You should never provide personal information to a website without permission. It is not safe to share any financial data on the dark internet. If you want to stay anonymous and protected, you should make use of a trusted service.

[digitalbullet17]

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