Mauritius at the Heart of Global Money Laundering Scandal: Leaked Financial Intelligence Reports Expose Industrial-Scale Money Laundering

A shocking exposé has revealed that Mauritius has emerged as a key player in a global money laundering scandal, with leaked financial intelligence reports exposing the extent to which US banks and financial institutions have been complicit in industrial-scale money laundering.

The FinCEN Files: A Collection of Financial Intelligence Reports

The FinCEN Files, obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), shed light on the damning account of how global banks and financial institutions have overlooked their legal obligations to halt the flow of dirty money. The data analysis revealed that nearly 90 financial entities filed over 2,100 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) with the US Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) between 1999 and 2017.

Key Findings

• Nearly 98% of these reports originated from 2011 to 2017.
• Transactions worth over $2.1 trillion were reported, accounting for only 0.02% of the 12 million SARs submitted by financial firms during this period.
• In half of these reports, banks lacked sufficient information about one or more parties involved in the transactions.

Companies Based in Secrecy Jurisdictions

The investigation discovered that companies based in secrecy jurisdictions, including Mauritius, were frequent recipients of cash flows from high-risk regions. The FinCEN Files contained reports from several prominent financial entities, including:

• Deutsche Bank: accounted for 62% of the total suspicious transactions with 982 reports filed.
• Bank of New York Mellon
• Standard Chartered
• JP Morgan Chase
• Barclays
• HSBC

Reporting Delays and Lack of Transparency

While most reports lacked transactional data, the narrative reports provided important insights into money flows. The reports revealed evidence of significant reporting delays beyond the 30-day federal requirement to report suspicious transactions. Additionally, the reports contained around three million words, providing a glimpse into the complex web of financial transactions that has been used to facilitate industrial-scale money laundering.

Ties to Allegations of Corruption and Fraud

Transactions worth over $2 billion were tied to allegations of corruption, fraud, embezzlement, or sanctions evasion. The data analysis underscores the extent to which Mauritius and other secrecy jurisdictions have been used in industrial-scale money laundering, revealing a deeply flawed system that puts profit over prevention and perpetuates a culture of ignorance.

Conclusion

The FinCEN Files expose a shocking lack of transparency and accountability in the financial industry, allowing for industrial-scale money laundering to occur. The reports highlight the need for urgent reform and greater oversight to prevent the flow of dirty money from perpetuating corruption and financial crimes worldwide.