Organised crime doesn’t stop when drugs, illicit tobacco or other illicit commodities are sold. Criminals then have another problem: what to do with the money.
An alleged transnational money laundering network suspected of laundering more than $123 million for multiple organised crime syndicates shows how criminals can provide financial infrastructure and services to other criminals.
AUSTRAC has supported a Taskforce Avarus investigation into the group, which allegedly converted criminal cash into cryptocurrency and moved funds offshore through shell companies operating as corporate money mules.
Taskforce Avarus is an Australian Federal Police-led, multi-agency initiative targeting criminal networks that launder money in Australia.
It is an example of crime as a service, where specialist criminal networks can provide the infrastructure needed to move, convert and disguise the proceeds generated by other criminal activity.
On 27 October, AUSTRAC assisted the Australian Federal Police to execute search warrants at properties in Strathfield and Burwood. Investigators seized an estimated $750,000 in cash, along with multiple luxury handbags and watches, a cash-counting machine and electronic devices. The investigation remains ongoing.
AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas said following the money can help expose the networks that enable organised crime.
“Organised crime is ultimately a business. Selling illicit commodities is one part of that business, but criminals still need to move, hide and use the money they make.”
“That creates a market for criminal organisations that can provide the infrastructure to do it, whether that involves cash, bank accounts, companies, cryptocurrency or moving money offshore.”
Money laundering networks can provide a crucial link between criminal proceeds and the people who ultimately benefit from them. By moving funds through different accounts, entities, assets or jurisdictions, criminals can seek to make it harder to identify where money came from and who really controls it.
But those movements can also generate financial information.
AUSTRAC works with businesses and law enforcement partners to identify suspicious financial activity and turn that information into financial intelligence. Connecting transactions, accounts, companies and individuals can help authorities see through layers designed to conceal the movement and control of criminal proceeds.
“Financial intelligence helps us look past individual transactions and identify the people and networks sitting behind them,” Mr Thomas said.
“If we can identify and disrupt the infrastructure criminals rely on to move their money, we can make it harder for organised crime to operate and profit.”
The investigation demonstrates why tackling money laundering is central to disrupting serious and organised crime. Following the money can expose not only the proceeds of crime, but the networks and financial infrastructure that help make organised crime profitable.