Themis Newsletter - July

Welcome to the latest newsletter where we show you a few highlights from Themis, and focus in on the big global financial crime news stories.

In this month's highlights, Themis held a summer reception for our team and friends of Themis. Our Head of Insight, Nadia O’Shaughnessy delivered a presentation on the nexus between art and financial crime in the United Kingdom. The talk gave a compelling overview of how criminals, corrupt officials, fraudsters, and sanctioned entities exploit the lucrative art market to conceal, store, and transfer illicit funds globally.

To learn more about financial crime in the art world, we invite you to download our complimentary briefing note, ‘Sketchy Dealings: Putting Financial Crime in the Picture for the Art Market, here.

This month, the Themis Insight team returned to Jersey, hosting an insightful Asia Financial Crime Risk Assessment Roundtable discussion in partnership with Jersey Finance. The session delved into a spectrum of financial crime risks that businesses in Jersey may encounter within the Mainland China and Hong Kong SAR landscape. The event showcased the effectiveness of knowledge-sharing events, owing to the exceptional panel of leaders who discussed the primary financial crime risks in mainland China and Hong Kong SAR, and examined the potential impact on finance companies operating in Jersey or those with clients and partners in these regions. For a deeper dive into the financial crime risk landscape in Hong Kong, explore our Hong Kong Country Risk report available on our website here.

This month, for our newsletter subscribers, we're extending a special offer! Use code JERSEY20 to get 20% off your report.

This month, Themis hosted an exclusive webinar that was led by our Financial Crime Researcher, Henry Wyard, and Melissa Sequeira, our Customer Success Manager. The focus of the session was an in-depth exploration of the luxury goods industry. It offered valuable insights into various aspects including the size and continued growth of the luxury sector, the connection between luxury goods and financial crime, the risks and vulnerabilities inherent in the industry, the ‘Goldfinger Principle’, and regulatory obligations within the sector. This event provided a unique platform for our clients to engage directly with our Themis experts, pose their questions, and acquire practical strategies that they could implement in their own businesses. We encourage you to stay tuned for more exclusive events and insights from Themis.

Top Financial Crime News Stories

Dozens of Indian farm labourers have been rescued from slave-like conditions in northern Italy in July. The 33 workers were promised jobs and a better future by two fellow Indian nationals but were instead forced to work over 10 hours a day, seven days a week for minimal wages. The wages were used to pay off debts to the alleged gang masters, who have now been arrested with approximately ￡420,000 in their possession. The rescued workers had paid ￡14,293 - or 1.5m rupees - each for seasonal work permits and jobs. Their passports were withheld from them upon arrival, and the workers were only paid €4 per hour for their 10 to 12-hour days. The rescued workers have now received their passports back and are being helped by social services and a migration organisation to relocate to safer housing and working conditions.

Source: BBC

The risks of mobile banking have been highlighted by a series of incidents where fraudsters hijacked mobile phones and subsequently emptied the victims’ bank accounts. In some cases, victims’ email accounts were initially hacked, and then, armed with personal data, fraudsters posed as the customer to the mobile company, resetting all passwords and ordering a replacement SIM card. Once they had control of the mobile phone, it was relatively easy to impersonate the victim to their bank, using two-step verification codes sent to the phone to take over the account and ultimately empty it. These incidents underline the importance of having robust, unique passwords for all online accounts, and two-step verification turned on for email and other accounts.

Source: The Guardian

The UAE’s financial intelligence unit has identified several hundred instances of trade-based money laundering (TBML) in 2022 and 2023 and has reported on the most employed methods. Document manipulation, particularly of bills of lading and invoices, was a key tool in TBML cases, accounting for 41% of cases. Phantom shipments, where no goods were sent despite existing documentation and payment, featured in 61% of reports. The commodities most frequently involved in suspected TBML cases include foodstuffs, building and construction materials, and precious metal and stones.

Source: Global Trade Review

If you would like to discuss any of our research findings in more depth please do not hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected].