Section: Kleptocracy Initiative (USA)
Cryptocurrencies and the Kremlin
By Anna Semler Cryptocurrency has emerged as an exciting new medium of exchange with rapid changes in value. As brands like Bitcoin become household names, questions also arise around the different uses for cryptocurrency and growing calls for regulation. The U.S. government must develop rules to protect against illicit cryptocurrency activity,...
Kleptocracy Watch | January 12, 2018
The week’s leading news and features on globalized corruption and the threat to democracy… TOP STORIES Global Magnitsky Act: 52 individuals and entities were sanctioned in the first tranche of designations – but the real story is the extraordinary Executive Order that Trump signed to do it, writes Rob Bershinski. (Just Security) Beyond...
Money Laundering for 21st Century Authoritarianism
In Money Laundering for 21st Century Authoritarianism: Western Enablement of Kleptocracy, Ben Judah and Belinda Li explore how loopholes in the U.S. anti-money laundering regime are being exploited by kleptocrats and their professional “enablers.” On December 1, 2017, Hudson Institute hosted the launch of the report with Ben Judah, Raymond Baker...
Kleptocracy Daily | November 29, 2017
Tomorrow: Senator Sheldon Whitehouse will speak at the launch of KI’s report on beneficial ownership, United States of Anonymity by Casey Michel. Read the report and join us at the Dirksen Senate Office Building from 9:30 a.m. The Russian billionaire next door: Putin ally Oleg Deripaska used a Delaware shell company to purchase a mansion...
The United States of Anonymity
By Casey Michel Download the full report here For years, Viktor Bout, known as the “Merchant of Death,” was considered the world’s premier arms dealer, with clients ranging from those in Muammar Qaddafi’s Libya to those in Mobutu Sese Seko’s Democratic Republic of the Congo. Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko,...
Kleptocracy Daily | October 31, 2017
Russia probe: “Mueller’s filings stand on their own as an important rebuke to global kleptocracy. That’s because the American face of the problem is Paul Manafort,”writes Franklin Foer. (Atlantic) Manafort’s indictment resonated in Ukraine, where “Mr. Manafort [allegedly] profited from financial wrongdoing in their country...
Kleptocracy Daily | October 30, 2017
Russia probe: Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates were indicted by the FBI on 12 counts this morning, including conspiracy against the United States, money laundering, and failure to disclose U.S. lobbying work for Ukraine’s Yanukovych regime. They both pleaded not guilty. Read the full indictment here. (CNN) George Papadopolous, a...
Kleptocracy Daily | October 26, 2017
Event: Maintaining Transatlantic Unity on Ukraine. Streaming live from Hudson Institute at 12 p.m. EST today and featuring KI Advisory Council member Hannah Thoburn. Military technology: “Russia doesn’t only use spies to steal secrets. Sometimes those doing its dirty work are ordinary American businessmen,” writes Katie Zavadski. One...
Kleptocracy Daily | October 23, 2017
China’s global influence campaign: As Xi Jinping pushes his vision of China as a global power, other countries are increasingly perturbed by Beijing’s aggressive interference tactics, writes Jane Perlez. (NYT) Guo Wengui: Chinese officials have reportedly been abusing their visas and breaking U.S. law to harass the whistleblower in...
Kleptocracy Weekly | October 20, 2017 | Top news and features on globalized corruption
China: Xi Jinping opened the 19th CCP Congress with a three-and-a-half hour speech promising a “new era” for China as a “global power.” He set out “a vision of total control – with the party guiding not only the economy and the Internet but culture, religion and morals, writes Simon Denyer. (WaPo) Xi cited the “virus” of corruption as the...
