6 articles on this subject, from across the site.
Criminals convert illicit funds to crypto, use mixers and privacy coins to obscure the trail, then layer transactions through NFTs and decentralised finance platforms before cashing out as clean money.
Teodorin Obiang used shell companies, luxury real estate, art, yachts and cars to launder tens of millions in stolen state wealth, with help from banks and lawyers across multiple countries.
How Equatorial Guinea's Vice President stole state funds through inflated contracts, laundered money via offshore shell companies, and spent it on mansions, yachts and art before authorities seized his assets.
Kleptocrats move embezzled money through shell companies and secrecy jurisdictions, inflating property prices globally and starving public services in their home countries.
Major cases involving Russian oligarchs, Malaysia's 1MDB scandal, Nigerian and Equatorial Guinean officials, and Uzbek elites show how kleptocrats hide billions. Countries now use sanctions, asset freezes, transparency registers and unexplained wealth orders to fight back.
Corrupt leaders use shell companies, offshore accounts, luxury assets, intermediaries, trade manipulation, fake loans and weak-regulation jurisdictions to conceal embezzled national wealth internationally.
