Georgetown Americas Institute

Money laundering and cross-border illicit financial flows pose significant challenges to the global economy and governance. 

The IMF (2019) estimates that up to 37% of international financial transactions may be linked to illicit activities, underscoring the critical need for an in-depth understanding of these complex crimes. The Georgetown Americas Institute and The Americas Institute at Georgetown and Transcrime - Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore are pleased to host a series of three virtual seminars addressing the multifaceted issue of money laundering, which impacts not only criminal organizations but also seemingly law-abiding entities.

Session 2: Money Laundering by Criminal and Non-criminal Organizations. Are We All Criminals?

On January 21, we are pleased to welcome Michele Riccardi, Deputy Director and Senior Researcher at Transcrime and Adjunct Professor of Financial and Business information analysis at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and Marcela Melendez Arjona from the World Bank to discuss the distinctions between money laundering by criminal and non-criminal organizations. Are we all criminals? Are strategies to launder proceeds of crime different if conducted by legal firms or by criminal organizations? Do they use the same methods and schemes? The panel will discuss how to make proper distinctions and adopt adequate policy responses

Session 3: Measuring the Impact of Criminal Activity and Money Laundering

On January 28, our last session will host as presenter Joras Ferwerda, Associate Professor at the Utrecht University School of Economics in the Netherlands and Tom Hagan as discussant. This session will focus on measuring the impact of criminal activity and money laundering. Presenters will discuss different methodologies to measure the problem of illicit financial activities, including cross-border illicit financial transactions. What kind of indicators can help us flag illicit transactions? How does money laundering impact governance and credit scoring of jurisdictions?

Registration links for the second and third sessions will be available soon.