Lawyers and the Proceeds of Crime

Katie Benson is Lecturer in Criminology at Lancaster University, where she teaches and researches in the fields of money laundering and organised, white-collar and financial crimes. Her current and recent research focuses on money laundering, anti-money laundering and the legal profession; (anti-)bribery and corruption in multinational businesses; the distribution of counterfeit alcohol; and the development of an alternative framework for the conceptualisation and analysis of money laundering. Dr Benson previously held roles within UK law enforcement and has worked with, or provided advisory/consultancy services to, various government bodies, law enforcement organisations, research institutions and investigations.

The role of legal professionals in the laundering of criminal proceeds is widely acknowledged, while little empirical research has been done on this crucial node in money laundering schemes. In studies of money laundering, the role of lawyers gets lost between the research traditions of studying either white-collar crime or studying organized crime. This book fills that gap by offering the most complete and up to date account of the facilitation of money laundering. It connects upperworlds and underworlds by focusing on the lawyer as a modern day Charon, the mythical ferryman of the underworld.Wim Huisman, Professor of Criminology, Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamGiven ongoing emphases on high-end money laundering, gatekeepers, and facilitators of money laundering, this timely book provides important new insights into money laundering, and anti-money laundering, in the legal profession. This book not only examines the AML regime and how lawyers launder proceeds of crime, it goes further by examining punishments following conviction. The book challenges entrenched views of (anti-)money laundering, and delivers important new insights based on original empirical research. I highly recommend it! Colin King, Reader in Law, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of LondonThis is a commendably thorough and thoughtful analysis of identified money laundering by the legal profession in England and Wales (and to a lesser extent, around the world), and of barriers to criminal, regulatory and practical interventions against it. Michael Levi, Professor of Criminology, Cardiff UniversityIf you’re an individual or organisation generating significant finances from criminal activities and want to use this to purchase assets, you need to be able to conceal the criminal origins of the money, and legal professionals can help you do this. In this book, Benson empirically analyses and contextualises the opportunities for, and nature of, such criminal facilitation, and in doing so provides rich insights into the drivers and conditions that lead to these otherwise legitimate ‘white-collar’ actors laundering criminal proceeds on behalf of others.Nicholas Lord, Professor of Criminology, University of Manchester

• 1. Introduction;2. Money laundering and the anti-money laundering regime;3. Framing the research: ‘organised crime’ or ‘white-collar crime’?;4. The nature of ‘facilitation’: diversity, complexity and context;5. Opportunity and vulnerability: factors influencing lawyers’ involvement in money laundering;6. On the ‘borders of knowingness’: understanding complicity, knowledge and intent;7. Knowledge and suspicion in the legislative framework;8. Criminal justice and regulatory responses to the facilitation of money laundering;9. Understanding and controlling the facilitation of money laundering: a research and policy agenda;Appendix: convictions, disciplinary proceedings and sanctions;