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Synopsis
Money laundering is as old as money itself – and yet the laws designed to prevent it are as ineffective as they have ever been.
Today’s anti-money laundering laws stop only a staggering 0.05 per cent of global illicit financial flows, while significantly increasing the regulatory burden on legitimate businesses and consumers. Fraudsters and criminals stay several steps ahead of regulators, while it often costs governments more to execute forfeitures than they reap from them. In short, it’s abundantly clear that these laws, though set up with the best of intentions, are not working.
Billions move around the world in cash, gold and other assets every day without a trace. How to Launder Money explains how and why, breaking down in delicious detail the mechanics of money laundering – not to enable wrongdoing but to illuminate it, to showcase the bent levers of finance and how they are pulled. While acknowledging the challenges faced by law enforcement, it also provides concrete recommendations on how to reduce the crime associated with money laundering, empowering readers, professionals and policymakers to recognise vulnerabilities and understand what truly works in the fight against financial crime.
The criminals already know how to launder money; this is, in part, their inside story. This book is for the rest of us, who want to know how the laws that are supposed to protect us are in reality doing more damage than ever before.
Author Bios
George Cottrell is a Sunday Times bestselling author, financier, and political strategist. Born in 1993 to an aristocratic family and raised in Mustique, he was educated at Malvern College before launching a career in finance in London. In 2014, he entered the world of politics, becoming a key advisor and fundraiser for parties including UKIP, the Brexit Party, and Reform UK, where he has been a close aide to Nigel Farage. Cottrell served time in a U.S. prison after a 2016 conviction for wire fraud related to money-laundering allegations, an experience that informs his insights into financial crime. 3 5 Today, he leads Geostrategy.com, providing international political consulting, while pursuing philanthropy, art collecting, and charitable causes—all proceeds from his books are donated to charity. He is the co-author of the Sunday Times bestseller How to Launder Money.
Lawrence Burke Files is a Sunday Times bestselling author and renowned international financial investigator with over 45 years of experience in finance, starting from his 18th birthday. As a due diligence expert and instructor, he has handled high-stakes cases in over 130 countries, recovering laundered assets across six continents, with investigations often valued from $15 million to billions. He has visited more than 100 countries to advise on fraud prevention and recovery, collaborating with forensic reporters and institutions to expose hidden financial flows. 1Files is also the author of the award-winning Due Diligence for the Financial Professional, 2nd edition, and a former director of corporate finance at American National. He is the co-author of the Sunday Times bestseller How to Launder Money.
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