That's all about a defined, regulated sector. There's more.
The risk that other, non-regulated sector, businesses will be used by criminals to launder money, to make corrupt payments, to give support to terrorists or even to be a conduit for fraud puts those businesses, officers and staff in the sights of prosecutors. And because of Tranche II, their own professional advisers will be scrutinising those businesses more closely. It is all types of business for example, private schools and medicine, restaurants, personal grooming and car dealers to say nothing of information providers, the service sector and manufacturing and software.
Money laundering cannot exist in a vacuum. Money laundering only happens when someone creates another crime and takes steps to hide, move and/or invest any benefit that person has obtained for himself or for someone else.
Source of Funds is not a matter of regulation, it's a question of risk. The regulatory regime merely says that the source of funds must be identified and a regulated business must be satisfied it is not suspicious. The question whether funds are suspicious is part of your financial crime risk policies and procedures.
Compliance is binary: does the regulated business have the policies in place and do they use them? Yes or No. That's why computers are brilliant at it.
Risk is endlessly variable. It is rarely binary. It requires interpretation and that's why computers can't do it.
TAKING PROCEEDS OF CRIMINAL CONDUCT FOR YOUR FEES IS PRIMA FACIE A CRIMINAL OFFENCE.
That means someone could go to jail. That's only one part of a complex system of sentencing options. The others are fines, confiscation and when the risks of confiscation of commingled funds is taken into account, the financial risks of being, or helping, a money launderer can be devastating.
So while others concentrate on the clerical function which is compliance, Nigel Morris-Cotterill has since 1994 concentrated on the risks that business are exposed to, often in the ordinary course of their business activities.
There is much fuss about lawyers and money laundering and rightly so.
To put it into perspective: a senior financial crimes officer with London's Metropolitan Police said that, in every money laundering case that came before him, there were lawyers involved.
More than 30 years later, that's still more or less the case. The only reason it's not the case now is that so many other business areas, such as accountants, deliver legal or quasi-legal services and in money laundering schemes they do the things lawyers used to do.
It is true that many money laundering schemes do not require a legal, i.e. business, structure.
The involvement of lawyers goes beyond creating and managing legal structures: it includes being an active participant in laundering schemes. And schemes for bribery, corruption and terrorist financing. Lawyers provide a shield of confidentiality and their bank accounts hide ownership of funds from banks. Their bank accounts can be used to provide banking services, completely hidden from an outside view - indeed, not "can" be used - "are" used because it is an essential part of the provision of some services especially in large law corporations and tiny firms in remote locations.
In this way, lawyers are at risk from their clients and from other lawyers; and lawyers present risks for other lawyers and a wide range of financial institutions.
This seminar is about identifying and dealing with risk. It is not about law or compliance.
It is therefore non-jurisdictional.
Those providing financial and other regulated services to lawyers
Law firms: All partners and staff having access to information relating to clients and/or their affairs.
Law Corporations: All directors and staff having access to information relating to clients and/or their affairs.
Investigation agencies, intelligence agencies, policy makers, regulators
Law firms and law corporations
Trust companies
Wills and Probate companies
Company formation agents and company services providers
For more information and the course outline.
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