Britain is the best place in the world to launder the crime money: Here are five steps.

Kleptcrats, cheaters and thieves can steal hundreds of billions of dollars, euros, pounds, or dollars from all of us every year, but this puts them in trouble: how can others stop us from knowing what they did with that money? They preferred not to appear suspicious, to clear money from criminal stains, or to face the loss of stolen cash.

Money laundering, as this process is known, is known to be difficult to detect, investigate, and persecute. Every now and then, however, some informationist was brought before someone like Howard Wilkinson, who exposed perhaps one of the biggest laundry schemes in history, moving 200 billion euros of questionable funds through an Estonian branch of Denmark's largest bank between 2007 and 2015, most of which have been won in suspicious circles of the former Soviet Union, with some likely belonging to Vladimir Putin himself.

“No one knows where all that money went,” said Wilkinson, former employees of the Danske Bank, in front of Denmark's parliament last year. As soon as the money got into the global financial system, the “were peaceful, they were free. ”

Britain's most famous pre-member is HSBC, thanks to systematic waste of drug cartels in Latin America over the second half of the past decade, for which it was fined 1.9 billion dollars by the U.S. government in 2012. But this was a very small operation compared to the Danske Bank scandal. If collected together, the suspicious funds moved through the Estonian branch of the bank could buy HSBC, with more than enough remaining money in Danske Bank, as well.

The scandal was great news in Denmark and Estonia, but it failed to attract public awareness to Britain. This is strange because Britain played a key role in all of this. All owners of bank accounts that originally appeared in Wilkinson suspects had the identity hidden behind the British-registered corporate structures including Lantana Trade LLP, which may be linked to Russian President Putin. This means that this is not only a Russian scandal, a Estonian or a Danish scandal but much closer to us. In November, Wilkinson had told the European Parliament committee that the countries that had sheltered these companies were equally guilty. The worst of all is Great Britain,” he said. “Great Britain is an absolute disgrace. ”

The British government is supposed to be committed to fighting granite corruption and financial crimes, yet Britain's involvement in this mega-scandal has never been mentioned in parliament, nor has it been addressed by ministers. It is the first time British companies have been involved in such a big case of money laundering. Among the characters that have used these companies to hide the money is Paul Manafort, former chief of Donald Trump's campaign who was sentenced to prison, and Victor Yanukovich, Ukraine's ousted president, among thousands of smaller profile opportunists.

It is increasingly difficult to avoid concluding that Britain tolerates such willful behavior because of the money it brings into our economy.

If so, why benefit and enrich only large criminals? Since you can use these companies to launder the dirty money in five easy steps.

Step One: Forget everything you think you know

If you have ambition to steal a lot of money, forget the use of cash. Kashi is heavy, dangerous and too limited. Even if Danske Bank used the largest possible banknotes in circulation, 200 million Euros would weigh 400 tons, four times heavier than a blue whale. Her movement alone would be a serious logistical challenge, and let alone hiding. That money in the cash would be magnets for thieves, and they would also ask customs officers to ask unpleasant questions.

If you want to commit a major financial crime, you need a bank account because electronics don't matter how much you own. But that creates a new problem: the bank account will have your name on it.

These include money laundering companies. Without such a company, you must act personally, which means that your involvement will be clear and visible: the bank account is in your name. But using a company to own that bank account is like robbing on bail leaves no fingerprints as long as the company's owners' information is hidden from the authorities. That's why all wise thieves do that.

The next question is what jurisdiction you will choose to register your company. If you write it to Google <x0fshop finance”, photos of tropical palm islands, white sand and crystal sea will appear. These represent that kind of jurisdictional subx2... sunding places for dark people” where we expect to find companies for money laundering. For decades, countries such as Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, Gibraltar, and others have sold companies to hide when they committed these crimes. But in recent years, the world has changed these jurisdictions, has been socialised, locked up and convinced to keep records for company owners, and discover those records when they ask police authorities. They're not as useful as they used to be.

Where then? This is where Great Britain comes in. When it comes to financial crimes, Britain is the closest friend.

That's the secret you need to know to start the money laundering company game: the recording system of British companies contains a huge opening that you can put in billions of euros without warning. That's why British companies have enabled financial crimes worldwide, from huge kleptocratic robberies to dirty retirement thefts.

Well, step one: forget all you know about finance. The true image associated with the “money laundering campaign” these days should not be an exotic island with the sound of the sea and the smell of rum cocktails, but a wet office block in any London neighborhood. If you want to get into the pre-laundering business, you don't want to go to the Caribbean: you'd be much better off doing this from your house.

Step 2: Open the company

The second step is easy, and it includes creating the company on the Chamber of Enterprises website. The Chamber of Enterprises contains the United Kingdom registry for corporate structures and publishes information on shareholders, directors, accounts, partners and so on so that everyone can see them.

To open the company costs only 12 pounds [the equivalent of approximately 15 euros], and the tow takes less than 24 hours. According to a World Bank report, Britain is one of the easiest countries in the world to create companies, so you will know the process immediately.

This is another reason why you shouldn't get tired of places like the British Virgin Islands: the opening of a company in that country will cost you more than a thousand pounds, and you will have to do this through an agent who will insist on seeing identity before doing business with you. Global agreements now require agents to verify the identity of their clients, to undertake the same legal process required for the creation of a bank account. Nearly all traditional tax paradises have been forced to submit to regulations, or face blacklists of the world's largest economies.

This means that there are few jurisdictions left where you can create an anonymous money laundering company and the remaining ones seem so suspicious that your company will practically unscrew “Watch. Qy eat! ” to each you try doing business with.

But Britain is an exception. Although he has narrowed his tax paradise by controlling his customers, Britain itself does not tire of all the costly formalities of legalism. True, as long as you register your company on the Chamber of Enterprises website, you will be required information such as name and address. That might worry a little bit. If you have to declare your name and address, then how can the company succeed in hiding your identity when involved in an industrial fraud?

Don't worry, keep reading.

Step 3: Trillone stuff.

The third step may be the most difficult because it seems too simple. Since 2016, the British government has made it mandatory for everyone to establish a company to name the person holding its ownership: “the synific control”, or the KPS. Before this reform, it was possible to master it with another company, and if that company was not British, the real owner could hide his identity.

Theoretically, reporting on the KPS rule may have prevented the use of British companies for anonymously laundering money to commit financial crimes. Don't feel like he didn't do it in practice anyway. Here is the secret: No one controls the accuracy of the information you offer when you register in the Company Room. You can say whatever you want and that information will be accepted as real.

And here's step three: when you record the information to create your own company, you make mistakes. The incorrectly printed words are everywhere once you start looking at the Chamber of Companies database. For example, many money laundering investigations involving the former USSR will likely go against a dentist living in Belgium whose signature stands on hundreds, if not thousands, of different companies, including Lantana Trade LLP. When his address in Belgium was indicated last year, the dentist claimed his signature had been stolen and had no connection with the companies in question. Whoever was doing the paperwork was so imaginative when it comes to writing his name. Every document due to the British registry has the same signature, but its name is written in at least eight different forms: Ali Moulaye, Alli Moulaye, Aly Moulaye, Ali Moyllae, Ali Moulae, Ali Moulaye, Aly Moulaye and for sijo, Ian Virel.

With such unlimited possibilities for creativity, why not make fun? Finally, as I was hanging around the Chamber of Enterprises site, I came to a strange name “Z. Xxx Stalin, ” apparently French resident east of London. There is a technical possibility that Xx is the real name given to Mr. Stalin from extensive parents, but if this stays, such extensive parents are very scattered, everywhere.

Xxx Stalin took me to a different company through order PKS, Mr. Kwan Xxx, a citizen from Kazakhstan, German resident; later to Xxx Raven; to Miss Tracy Dean Xxxx; to Jet Xxx; and finally to [their distant cousin?] Mr. Xxx Xx. These smart names are just growing up, and not long after I found Mr. Mmmmmm Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyy and Mr. Mmmmmm Xxxxxxxxxxx [containing address: Mmmmmm, Mmmmmm, Mmm, MMM], and then I decided to stop.

As long as the hag goes on, it's pretty funny, the implications are also very serious, if you think about what companies are talking about. Limited companies and partnerships have the obligation to maintain the debt limit, meaning that if they fail, investors don't bank themselves. It's a form of security: society as a whole is accepting responsibility for entrepreneur's debts because we want to encourage entrepreneurial behavior. In exchange, owners agree to publish details about their companies so that we can see what they're doing, and make sure they're not abusing our faith.

The whole point of the PKS registry was to prevent fraud from hiding their identity behind the money laundering companies, yet, thanks to the company's failure to check the available information and reinforce the rule, they are doing just that. How can society find someone who gives his identity the name Xxxxxxxx?

And even when company documents offer a real name, not a simple choice of letters, this information is hard to believe. For example, in September, the company registered at the Atlas Integrate Services Chamber was declared in the PKS with a date of birth that only two months old. In those two months of life, this company had not only taken time to start the business but also to get married since it was listed as “Zone”. LLP documents declare: “This person maintains the right, direct or indirect, to set or dismiss most people who participate in LLP management”. It doesn't exactly explain how a baby can do that.

This is not an isolated case. Global Witness Anti-Corruption Campaign Group Checked PKS found 4 thousand owners under the age of 2. One was not yet born. In the opposite part of the spectrum, researchers found five individuals who owned 6 thousand companies each.

You don't even need to list a person like the company's PCS. It's lawful to say that the company doesn't know who the owner is [no, you're not misunderstanding; this just doesn't make sense], or just tie knots by listing different companies in different jurisdictions, that no time investigators and resources of the FBI could control you just never.

That's why step three is so important on the five-step road to create a British company for money laundering. If you can generate enough information when you access company data, then the company's whole idea is based out of the window: you get protection from legal action, without giving anything in return. It's amazing.

But don't get a little started; there are two steps to follow.

Step 4: Lie but lie wise

The examples mentioned earlier [Mmmmm, Mmmm, Mmm, MMM] would not be used to commit fraud, since anyone who controls them would realize that they are not serious. Cumberland Capital Ltd, however, was another case. It seemed completely legitimate.

She controlled a company called Tropical Trade, which, in October 2016, was identified in the Wisconsin trial by a 63-year-old postal worker named MJ. On the phone, a salesman offered her an investment product that would return 81% of the money. The seller had spoken of his wife and family, being faithful and honest, told MJ police. During the two weeks in November 2016, it allowed Tropical Trade to place 34 thousand and 500 dollars in credit cards Mastercard and Visa;” says the statement. When she had tried to get her money back, e-mails and calls were ignored, and so it was left without them.

She had fallen victim to the global epidemic of binary fraud options. binary options are a form of booking on the stock market that has already been banned in many countries, including Israel, on which the majority of the industry was based since fraud fixed bets, continued to win and target vulnerable people. According to the FBI, received in general, these frauds may have benefited up to 10 billion dollars per year.

When American police went to see who was behind Cumberland Capital Ltd. They searched the Chamber of Enterprises site and found that her director was an Australian citizen named Manford Martin Murphy. Anyone researching the binary fraud options would quickly conclude that the Mlunda was the main. He was the director of about 80 companies in Britain.

It was a major scandal that the British regulator had allowed Moody to commit global epidemic fraud behind Britain's registered companies, but the reality was even more terrifying: The nose was behind this fraud. He was a victim, too.

Police officials suspect that after Mranda had agreed to offer details to join a network of binary options, the identity had been stolen so that it could be used as director in dozens of British companies. The scheme was exposed only after complaints on consumer protection troops, and when asked to have Australian colleagues conducted investigations.

The Company Chamber has since erased the name of Mronda from documents related to dozens of other companies, but it was too late for MJ and thousands of other victims. A small number of those who really stood behind the binary options were seized, but the money they stole went missing in the maze of money laundering companies, and individuals behind the Cumberland Capital have not been identified.

The majority of binary option firms claim they are from Britain. People are more likely to be deceived by a British company than by one of Israel, because there is a better reputation when it comes to finances,” Alex Eristavi said by London City Police.

This is the fourth step: You must not just lie but lie wisely. British companies look legitimate, so legitimize yourself. Steal the name of a real person, and put it in company documents. Do not place your address in documents, rent an office to get your mail: Paul Manafort used one of these in Finchley, the con men of binary options went to Liverpool, and Lantana Trade was based in the London district of Harow.

The financial documents that the document looks better if they've been audited by an accountant, so find an accountant, and pretend they've been audited to a real accounting firm. Even this is not controlled, which means you need to find an online accountant and assume you hired a company. The accountants are often contracted for accounts that they have never seen before, and later find out that they personally approved them.

Step 1-4: Short Recapitulation

To sum up briefly, if you want to create an unpaveable weapon to commit fraud: first, forget about exotic islands and come to Britain; then take advantage of the Internet portal of the Chamber of Enterprises that is very easy; then place false information; and at least at least make sure that information is convincing enough not to fall into the eyes of a random observer.

It's time for step five.

Step 5: Don't let the dick eat

I know what you're thinking: it can't be that easy. Of course you will be arrested, tried and imprisoned if you try to follow this five-step process. But if you look at what British officials do, more than what they say, you will feel much safer. The Business Department has been constantly warned that Britain is facilitating this kind of financial crimes for most of the decade, and it still needs to take some substantial step to stop it.

Before 2011, only registered businesses as a company could access the Chamber of Enterprises website, which meant that there was a clear link between a real, verified individual and the companies that were created, since you could see who created them. However, there was deception, of course, but it was relatively easy to understand who was responsible.

In 2011, then business secretary and liberal Democrat Vince Cable decided to open the Chamber of Companies, and everything changed. After Cable's reform, anyone with Internet connections, anywhere in the world, could create a company in Britain as long as it takes to order some pizzas, and close to the same amount of money. The checks were removed; there was no longer any connection to the existing person; it was easy to create a company in Britain to open a Twitter account.

Cable's reform took little attention to people who understood it, but those who understood it were alarmed. Kevin Breaker, businessman from Warwickshire, was among those who had been in the business of creating companies for decades, and had tried to conscious Cable of the risks this new policy posed.

Perhaps, the method selected by Breer was unwise. He recorded a company with Vince Cable as the sole shareholder, and then wrote to the business secretary to explain what he had done. This purpose had to serve as a demonstration of easy ways to access unverified information. But the government did not take it seriously.

In 2015 we had the general election where Cable lost his seat, and Brewster decided to try again in the same form. He created Cleverly Clogs Ltd, a company owned by three people: James Cleverly, the Neville-Rolfe barones, who was the business department minister, and an Israeli forged by the name of Ibrahim Amman. Not even this time, Brewster had been successful.

Last year, Treasury Minister John Glenn said that the Chamber of Enterprises could not afford to check all the information available in it, because that would cost the British economy hundreds of millions of pounds a year. This is certainly an exaggeration. Anti-corruption activists who have examined the data have said the cost would actually be much smaller than that, but the key point is that reform would pay itself. As Brewster himself noted, the cost barrier is one thing. But the cost of cheating is much greater. ”

However, it cannot be said that the government has taken any action. It is illegal to offer false information when you register a company, and punishable until two years in prison. At the end of 2017, the Chamber of Companies announced the prosecution's activities. The target of persecution was Kevin Brewster, who had tried to inform politicians how easily you could create fake companies.

This goes to step five: don't eat dicks. Do as many tricks as you can. /The Guardian/Periscope/