Plain-English explainers on money laundering, financial crime and fraud: how dirty money moves, how it gets caught, and what investigators look for. New videos every day.
Every scheme, from a small cash business to a global network, runs through the same three stages.
Criminal cash enters the financial system: split deposits, cash-heavy fronts, money mules, casino chips or currency exchanges.
Funds bounce through accounts, shell companies, jurisdictions, trade invoices and crypto until the origin is hard to trace.
The money comes back looking legitimate: property, luxury goods, business investments, loans and "consulting fees".
The topics the channel covers, with examples in dollars, euros, pounds, rupees and more.
Over- and under-invoicing, phantom shipments and the goods that never existed.
Nominee directors, layered ownership and how investigators find the real beneficial owner.
How ordinary accounts get recruited, often unknowingly, to move criminal proceeds.
Chain-hopping, mixers, off-ramps and what blockchain analytics actually shows.
Nested accounts, payable-through risk and why cross-border wires draw scrutiny.
Front companies, stripped wire details and vessels that go dark at sea.
Scams, account takeover, APP fraud and where fraud ends and laundering begins.
Transaction monitoring alerts, investigations, SARs and lookback reviews, from the inside.
I've spent more than a decade on the other side of the screen: reviewing alerts, investigating suspicious activity and leading transaction-monitoring teams at Big Four firms and global banks.
The Laundering Files is where I break that work down for everyone else. Whether you're a student, a new analyst, preparing for an AML certification or just curious how criminals move money, each file is built to be clear, practical and grounded in how compliance really works.
Topic suggestions, collaborations, training enquiries or speaking requests:
thelaunderingfiles@gmail.com