Collaboration in professional money laundering networks in the Netherlands

• In Event: Money laundering: the role of facilitators and financial intermediaries

Abstract

Financial facilitators assist other criminals with laundering the proceeds of their illicit behaviors. In providing their money laundering services, collaboration with other financial facilitators might be beneficial, for instance, to circumvent stricter anti-money laundering policies. Other financial facilitators may possess additional skills and expertise, or have a larger network, which can be helpful when performing money laundering practices involving substantial amounts of illegally gained assets. Earlier research based on Dutch police registration data found that financial facilitators do collaborate in – at times – extensive money laundering networks in the Netherlands. The current study further examines the nature of collaborations between financial facilitators by using case files involving financial facilitators. The analysis focuses on the expertise of collaborating financial facilitators, how the task differentiation can be characterized, and whether hierarchical relations can be identified. In addition, the study seeks to answer how the collaborations are formed and if they are rooted in pre-existing social, familial, or ethnic bonds, and whether collaborations are stable or short-lived. Moreover, we examine to what extent illicit and legitimate markets are interconnected and whether the facilitators exclusively offer money laundering services or also offer other forms of financial or administrative services to their criminal clientele. Preliminary results suggest that underground bankers mainly collaborate within their own expertise group, while other facilitators collaborate with facilitators with more diverse expertise. In addition, collaborations between facilitators often seem to be rooted in pre-existing social, familial, or ethnic bonds, and in some cases, facilitators’ legal and illegal activities are interconnected.

Authors

• Jo-Anne Kramer, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam/Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR)

• Edward Kleemans, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

• Arjan Blokland, NSCR

• Melvin Soudijn, National Police of the Netherlands (KLPD)