Money laundering and asset cloaking techniques
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the various typologies and methods used to cloak assets following the placement stage of money laundering.Design/methodology/approach – Techniques used to hide assets and cloak ownership, ranging from simple nominee arrangements through to complex financial transactions are explored.Findings – There are a myriad of methods available to money launderers to cloak their assets.Research limitations/implications – More work needs to be done on the issue of information gateways.Practical implications – Assets are cloaked to obfuscate the trail and make it difficult for law enforcement to “follow the money”. Understanding the methodologies used is the first step to understanding the problem.Originality/value – A number of cases from Canada, the USA and Australia were studied, as well as reference material advisors use for asset protection.
Laundering Sexual Deviance: Targeting Online Pornography through Anti-money Laundering
This paper concentrates on cyber-pornography/obscenity, which encompasses online publications or distribution of sexually explicit material in breach of the English obscenity and indecency laws. After examining the major deficiencies of the attempts to restrict illegal pornographic representations, the authors aim to highlight that the debate regarding their availability in the Internet era neglects the lucrative nature of the circulation of such material, which can be also targeted through anti-money laundering. Rising profits fuel the need to recycle the money back into the legal financial system, with a view to concealing their illegal origin. Anti-money laundering laws require disclosure of any 'suspicion' related to money laundering, thus opening another door for law enforcement to reach the criminal.
Super-resolution of overlapped waves in time and frequency domain in a directional borehole radar measurement
The Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC) algorithm is modified in order to resolve multiple waves and to estimate reflection points in 3-D space. This algorithm is suitable for directional borehole radar with a circular dipole array antenna. Making use of the spatial frequency difference of acquired array signals, the signals are decorrelated, and the 3-D MUSIC algorithm is applied. The time domain signals of the singlehole array-type borehole radar are used in order to form a measurement vector in the MUSIC algorithm. A computer simulation confirms that the proposed algorithm may estimate the directions of arrival (DOA) for three signals. Applying the proposed algorithm to field experiment data successfully estimates the DOA of a reflected wave from a fracture in rock.