Environmental Organized Crime and Money Laundering in the U.S.

SOURCE thehill.com
Environmental organized crime is a massive global enterprise, with Interpol estimating that it generates up to $281 billion a year. The U.S. financial system appears to be facilitating money laundering and concealing the profits of these illicit activities, creating a significant loophole for criminal actors.

Key Points

  • Environmental organized crime generates significant profits, with the U.S. financial system aiding in money laundering.
  • Shell companies and insufficient financial transparency contribute to the concealment of illegal profits from activities like illegal logging and gold mining.
  • Efforts are being made to address these loopholes through legislation and increased transparency measures.

Pros

  • Efforts to address loopholes in the U.S. financial system are underway, including the implementation of a registry of beneficial owners of companies.
  • Legislation like the FOREST Act aims to crack down on conspirators in environmental crime organizations and compel companies to trace their commodities back to the origin.

Cons

  • The U.S. financial system has major weaknesses that make it easy for criminal actors involved in environmental crime to create shell companies and launder illicit profits.
  • Insufficient resources and funding allocated to agencies like FinCEN limit their ability to effectively combat environmental crimes.