In August, RDC published a White Paper about the so-called “Laundromats” in money laundering scandals in recent years. The firm says that financial services professionals should understand and be able to identify the money laundering schemes known as laundromats – the Russian, the Azerbaijani and the Troika Laundromats. The White Paper sets out to examine the major examples of the recently revealed laundromat schemes; the key characteristics of the schemes; and actions that they can take to protect a company and customers – what to look for and how they can ensure robust and appropriate protections are in place to thwart criminals. It identifies 3 factors required for the laundromats – the main actors are ‘paper’ corporate vehicles with no infrastructure, staff, products, etc, and they are often formed by formation agents or Corporate Services Providers (CSP); companies’ accounts are held in an alternative jurisdiction to where they are registered; and transactions between the companies’ accounts are often covered with some fake transaction (e.g. the repayment of a defaulted loan in the case of the Russian Laundromat).
https://rdc.com/whitepapers/rise-of-the-laundromats/
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