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Introduction
1. Organized crime (Organized crime
monitor)
2. Investment of crime proceeds (money
laundering, misuse of corporate
vehicles, real estate)
Organized crime monitor
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1996-2007
120 police files
checklist
How does it work?
Key findings
• Transit crime: rather than controlling
sectors of economy or regions (like
Mafia), misuse of legal infrastructure
and economic infrastructure
• Transnational activities; investments in
familiar territories.
• Pyramidal structures exception; Social
ties: basic for criminal cooperation
Key findings
• Social embeddedness
• Legitimate occupations: breeding
ground for criminal associations
• Local embedded
Damage
• Estimate CBS: 3.3 billion Euros (1%
GDP)
• Drugs: 2 billion Euros
• Prostitution (woman trade) 660 million
• Illegal gambling 140 million
Crime proceeds
• Meloen: 52 cases; most of the
investments in real estate
• In sectors familiar to the offenders: bars,
hotels, brothels, houses/appartmenrts in
familiar territories (Amsterdam not
Kerkrade)
Money laundering
•
The process that begins with proceeds
of crime and ends with investments in
the formal economy
• Three sequential elements:
1. placement (cash deposits);
2. layering (concealing criminal origin);
3. integration (converting into apparently
legitimate earnings or loans
Corporate vehicles
• Limited, Societe Anonyme, Delaware
Corporation, besloten vennootschap
• Separation between Individual A and his
activities/funds lodged in Corporate Vehicles
(Legal persons)
• Absence of personal liability (you can take
risks)
• You can hide your fortune; split between
judicial owner and ‘beneficial’ owner
Conclusions
• A hugh amount of crime proceeds (probably)
• Attitude: investment in real estate; familiar
territories
• Legal forms (corporate vehicles) are easily
misused for concealing origin, investing the
proceeds of crime
• Diffuse distinctions between ‘illegal’ and
‘legal’ worlds
• Conflicts (extortion; disagreement) between
offenders and ‘legitimate’ actors
Corporate vehicles
• Opportunities for misuse; it’s rather
easy to misuse corporate vehicles
(concealing the origin of the money;
hiding your involvement; creating
apparently legitimate reasons for
converting crime proceeds into ‘clean’
money
Casus Housing
A. Ltd/BVI
Bank BVI
Giro transfer
Exchange office
London/UK
Account LTD
Cash
Giro transfer
B. SA
Luxemburg
“Loan”
Giro transfer
Housing BV/NL
Criminal
org/NL