The various shortages caused by problems with the global supply chain have provided the latest boost in momentum for an increasingly popular idea in Washington: making the American economy less dependent on China. What policymakers refer to as “sele [...]
Key Point Consolidating the international consensus that the professional enablers of corruption should be required to watch out for dirty money would require landmark reform initiatives—split roughly evenly between enacting new rules and enforcing [...]
Alliance for Securing Democracy Malign Finance Fellow Josh Rudolph discusses the “Pandora Papers” and the federal legislative response. [...]
U.K. and European natural gas prices have been swinging, but they abruptly decreased as Russian President Putin suggested Gazprom may increase its gas supply to Europe. Senior Fellow Kristine Berzina joined BBC Newshour to discuss. Listen at 18:18 [...]
Leaked Papers Expose Need for US to Act on Enablers of Dirty Money The U.S. government should respond to the Pandora Papers – an investigation by a group of news media outlets based on 11.9 million private financial records – with sweeping and forc [...]
The professional services offered by the US and UK remain an Achilles’ heel in the fight against illicit finance. This discussion will consider how London and Washington can make a step-change in combatting these facilitators. Criminals, malign acto [...]
As revelations from the “Pandora Papers” continue to rock the world of high finance, investigators are pointing to ways the offshore accounting system can be reformed and made more transparent. Maíra Martini, a money-laundering expert with Transpare [...]
A recent new report released to the Wall Street Journal reveals some financial secrets of how some of the world's wealthiest and powerful political leaders have managed to hide billions of dollars. According to the report, some of the leaders involv [...]
Yesterday, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists released what they call the Pandora Papers. The exposé revealed the financial secrets and offshore deals of dozens of heads of state politicians, public officials, and celebrities [...]
Modern dictatorship relies on access to the West. Lawyers, lobbyists, accountants, real estate professionals, consultants, and others help kleptocrats launder their money and reputations—and exert undue influence in democracies—in exchange for dirty [...]
If Biden is serious about fighting corruption, he needs to regulate 10 key white-collar professions. The FBI has long viewed obscure private investment funds as dangerous financial pathways for malevolent foreign activities. Nearly a decade ago, th [...]
Executive Summary When kleptocrats, foreign intelligence services, homegrown autocrats, and other malign actors weaponize corruption to undermine U.S. democracy, their financial secrecy relies upon the services of ten sectors of U.S. professionals [...]
A series of anti–money laundering (AML) supervisory fiascos since 2018 have raised doubts about the integrity of the EU financial system. In July, the European Commission published wide-ranging proposals for reform, including the creation of a new E [...]
In the final year of the Trump administration, the U.S. government issued a flurry of actions related to China, utilizing a diverse basket of economic statecraft tools in furtherance of national security objectives.The Trump administration’s tariffs [...]
The fight against corruption has emerged as a defining struggle of our era and a key area of emphasis for the Biden administration and Congress. In late May, the White House designated combating corruption as a core national security interest, an un [...]
Head of Policy and Research Jessica Brandt led a conversation on democratic competition with autocracies at GMF's Brussels Forum. She was joined by U.S. Senator Ben Cardin; National Institute for Civil Discourse Executive Director Carolyn J. Lukensm [...]
Program Manager and Fellow Nad’a Kovalčíková led a discussion on how and why NATO member states can build up their democratic, societal, and economic resilience at NATO 2030 at Brussels Forum with U.S. Representative Gerald Connolly; Tania Latici, a [...]
While President Joe Biden’s critics have been arguing that sitting down with Putin on June 16 would look weak and wobbly, White House officials have kept their heads down and laid the groundwork for what could become the most sweeping policy initiat [...]
For years, Alexander Lukashenko has been a problem frequently discussed but easily forgotten. When Belarus forced Ryanair flight FR4978 to land in Minsk and arrested Raman Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega, it took away the freedom and security not only [...]
Malign Finance Fellow Josh Rudolph discusses how we should approach corruption and kleptocracy from a policy perspective and why Treasury needs to "get with the program." Related reading: Coordinating the War on Corruption by Josh Rudolph Treasury [...]
Josh Rudolph and Abigail Bellows join Nate Sibley to explore how diplomacy, foreign development aid, and financial policy can be leveraged against kleptocracy. Casey Michel and Paul Massaro discuss the hijacking of an airliner by Belarus. [...]
It was always going to be a difficult needle to thread. The Biden administration clearly views Russia’s Nord Stream-2 natural gas pipeline as a geopolitical project that threatens European energy security and that of Ukraine and eastern flank NATO a [...]
The U.S. Treasury Department must make it a priority, Malign Finance Fellow Josh Rudolph argues in Foreign Affairs. Combating corruption and kleptocracy has traditionally been an afterthought in U.S. foreign policy: a goal that most policymakers c [...]
Executive Summary The Biden administration has a historic opportunity to unify U.S. domestic and foreign policy through an aggressive mission to combat corruption and kleptocracy. Middle-class Americans are frustrated by perceptions of corruption [...]
How do you sanction a problem like Russia? For nearly a decade, the United States and its allies have been levying sanctions against Moscow in an effort to deter its revanchist behavior and contain its malign influence activities. And over this per [...]
On Monday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) confirmed to Politico that it is working to establish a Foreign Malign Influence Center. The center, which was first authorized as part of the 2020 Defense Authorization bill, wil [...]
Key Point Beneficial ownership reform offers a historic opportunity—if strongly implemented—to build resilience against what has become a leading national security threat: malign actors funded by and weaponizing the proceeds of kleptocracy to harm t [...]
Josh Kirschenbaum joined TRACE International's "Bribe, Swindle, or Steal" to discuss investment funds and the gaping loophole they create through which vast sums of money can move with no accountability. [...]
The Russia sanctions announced by the Biden administration on Thursday did not impose severe financial costs on Moscow, although the measures are stronger than those of the Trump administration because they are credibly reinforced by the president’s [...]
In his farewell address, President George Washington warned about “the insidious wiles of foreign influence.” In Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) recent statement supporting some provisions in the For the People Act (S. 1), he voiced a modern echo of Wa [...]
Introduction and Summary In his push for bipartisan efforts on voting rights legislation, Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) warned that “the lack of transparency in many campaign finance rules provides multiple avenues for foreign and national adversaries [...]
The U.S. government must reimagine FinCEN as an essential one-stop shop to support law enforcement with sophisticated financial intelligence and formidable analytic capabilities, Malign Finance Fellow Josh Rudolph and Gary Kalman write in Foreign Po [...]
If democracies are to stand up to Chinese coercion, they will have to join forces, Emerging Technologies Fellow Lindsay Gorman writes in Foreign Policy. This month, China banned imports of Taiwanese pineapples, the latest in a string of punitive t [...]
China is reshaping the world’s economy. From infrastructure and investment to manufacturing and supply chain dependency, Chinese economic influence is becoming an increasingly important topic for policymakers in North America and Europe. How should [...]
Chris, Zack, and Melanie sit down to discuss U.S. sanctions programs and how to make them more effective. In a recent War on the Rocks article focused on sanctions, Edward Fishman argues that the United States needs to take a hard look at our econom [...]
Malign Finance Fellow Josh Rudolph joined Chatham House for an event that explored how the Kremlin uses Russian money in London to exert influence over British politics. The United Kingdom has long attracted money from criminal and Kremlin-linked so [...]
Summary Recommendation Within the first 100 days of the Biden administration, the U.S. Treasury Department should publish its first-ever National Corruption Risk Assessment about the financial networks of oligarchs and kleptocrats, reviewing case st [...]
Malign Finance Fellow Josh Rudolph joined "The Power Vertical" to discuss how the Biden administration can combat corruption and kleptocracy. Russia’s banks can be as dangerous as Russia’s tanks. Corruption is the new Communism. The Kremlin’s black [...]
For several years, the Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD) has been monitoring and cataloging instances of authoritarian interference in the transatlantic space. In 2018, ASD launched the Authoritarian Interference Tracker, an online database that [...]
A Truly Historic Achievement Transparency advocates begin 2021 in a jubilant mood, as Congress on New Year’s Day overrode President Trump’s veto to pass the annual defense spending authorization. Included as a part of that law was the Corporate Tran [...]