One of the reasons I haven't been blogging very often is that I'm in the process of writing a new book.  This one is non-fiction and is about trade-based money laundering (TBML).  It is designed to be a user friendly guide to what the Financial Action Task Force calls one of the three largest money laundering methodologies in the world.  It is also the one that is least known and understood.

The book is written primarily for bank compliance officers, but I believe law enforcement and other interested groups will also find it valuable. 

The working title of the book is Trade Based Money Laundering - The Next Frontier.  It is going to be published by Wiley.  The tentative release date is 1 February 2016.  

I was recently interviewed by LaVerne Durham of SAS and I discuss TBML and the new book.  Here is the link to our conversation:  http://blogs.sas.com/content/sascom/2015/04/24/john-cassara-talks-dirty-money-and-trade-based-money-laundering/

Demons of Gadara was iincluded on the list of the best independent books released in 2014!
The link is here:  http://(http://indiereader.com/2014/12/irs-best-books-2014/)

I'm a part-time consultant for SAS - the analytics company.  A few months ago, I visited their world headquarters at Cary, North Carolina.  I was asked to record a number of videos on various topics dealing with money laundering and financial crimes.  I recorded brief unscripted messages on financial intelligence, trade-based money laundering, mobile payments, etc.  The video clips are now available on YouTube.  To find the links, simply go to YouTube and query under "John Cassara."  

There is a very good article that appeared in today's publication of the Association of Certified Financial Crimes Specialists.  The article is on trade based money laundering. I have a number of quotes.  The link is here:  http://www.acfcs.org/la-raid-on-narco-money-laundering-shows-proliferation-of-tbml-and-black-market-peso-exchange/

On September 11, I was quoted in in a Bloomberg article on the U.K.'s efforts to require beneficial owners of shell companies.  The link to the article is here:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-11/corruption-fighter-gooch-tackles-abusive-shell-companies.html

On August 20, I gave a presentation at SAS Global Headquarters in Cary, North Carolina on underground finance.  I was asked to turn my remarks into an article.  The article was published by SAScom on September 11 and is available here:  
http://www.sas.com/en_us/insights/articles/risk-fraud/dangers-of-underground-finance.html

The following blog was originally posted July 24, 2014 by Global Witness.
I did not write the blog but I am re-posting because I feel this is an important issue:  


Last November, a former special agent for the Treasury Department, John Cassara, wrote an op-ed for the New York Times with the headline “Delaware, Den of Thieves?” Cassara described how the state of Delaware (along with Wyoming and Nevada) has become “nearly synonymous with underground financing, tax evasion and other bad deeds facilitated by anonymous shell companies”. He told of his frustration as a law enforcement officer trying to get information out of Delaware about the real owners and controllers of companies registered in the state.

This week, a debate has started in Delaware about its role as a corporate secrecy haven. One-half of the members of the Delaware State Legislature have sent a letter to the Delaware Congressional Delegation, urging them to support bipartisan federal legislation introduced by Senators Levin (MI-D) and Grassley (IA-R) to deal with anonymous companies.

To understand why this is such a big deal, it’s important to understand the extent to which Delaware is a global hub for company formation. More than 1 million companies are incorporated in Delaware, which is more than the actual number of living residents. That number includes 50% of all publicly-traded companies in the U.S. and 64% of the Fortune 500. This is no accident; Delaware law grants attractive tax arrangements and other measures that attract businesses to incorporate there. These measures have paid off – in 2011 alone, Delaware collected roughly $860 million in taxes and fees from these companies – about a quarter of the state’s total budget.

But there’s a shadow side to Delaware’s status as an incorporation hub. Around the world, drug dealers, dictators and arms dealers use networks of shell companies with hidden ownership to launder their ill-gotten gains and evade authorities – allowing them to cause harm to millions of people around the world.

And, while stories about secret shell companies often conjure up images of tropical locales, the reality is that U.S. states – with comparatively strong rule of law and attractive U.S. ‘branding’ that offers an air of legitimacy – are very popular locales for dodgy deals. A recent World Bank report found that the U.S. was the favorite destination of corrupt politicians trying to set up such shell companies. Another academic study found that U.S. states ranked among the easiest jurisdictions in the world to form a company without revealing the identity of who ultimately owns or controls it – with Delaware being one of the easiest of all.

For example, a Delaware anonymous company was at the center of a corruption scandal involving the former Prime Minister of Ukraine. In 2006, Pavel Lazarenko was sent to jail in the United States for laundering tens of millions of dollars of money that rightfully belonged to the Ukrainian people.  How did he do this? In part by using anonymous companies incorporated in Delaware and California. In fact, Lazarenko used one of these companies to funnel money into the United States to buy himself a $7 million house in California.

Now it’s not just corruption investigators raising questions about Delaware’s part in this global money web.  Delaware-based organizations were instrumental in bringing this issue to the attention of the state legislators who are now calling on the Congressional delegation to support federal action.

Led by the Delaware chapter of Americans for Democratic Action, 13 state-based organizations including labor, good government and social justice groups issued a statement raising concerns about the of use of anonymous companies to set up dirty deals in their state’s back yard, and calling on the state to strengthen its own transparency laws. Today’s letter to the Congressional delegation takes that initiative one step further by showing that local lawmakers want Delaware’s Members of Congress to be partners in this effort as well.

This stirs up a bit of a dilemma for Delaware’s Congressional Delegation.  On the one hand, lawmakers such as Senator Chris Coons are known on Capitol Hill for their commitment to tackling poverty in the Global South, especially in Africa.  Shutting down anonymous companies would be a huge contribution to anti-poverty efforts by greatly reducing the ability of corrupt officials to line their pockets by siphoning off resources from the poorest countries in the world.

On the other hand, the Delaware delegation as well some Delaware officials, working through organizations such as the National Association of Secretaries of State, have also been the most vocally opposed to what we believe are the meaningful reforms needed to collect and disclose information about who really owns and controls the companies involved in these crimes and scandals.

In contrast, other global hubs for company formation, such as the UK, are moving forward to create public registries of beneficial ownership information, with the support of government officials and business organizations alike.

The status quo isn’t working, and millions around the world are suffering as a result.  All this activity shows plenty of people – around the world and in Delaware – believe that support for entrepreneurship and innovation CAN go with transparency for government and business; it doesn’t have to be an either/or equation. Now that citizens and local lawmakers in Delaware are speaking up, will Delaware’s national officials show leadership on this issue in response?


Link to the original Global Witness blog post:
http://www.globalwitness.org/blog/debate-in-delaware-on-tackling-anonymous-companies/






 

The IndieReader selected Demons of Gadara to be included in its list of "top summer reading."  The list is available here:  http://indiereader.com/2014/07/9-best-summer-indie-reads/

I have received wonderful reviews of my novel Demons of Gadara.  Most are posted on Amazon and have been written by regular readers.  Thank you!   IndieReader recently issued a professional review.  Here it is: