Cleaner, Smaller and Emptier: What Became of Latvia’s Banking Sector After Clean-Up
In the history of Latvian banking, February has often been a month of fateful turns.
Dirty Money
Finnish Corruption Scandal Figure Arrested in Riga
Police in Riga on Thursday detained Arto Autio,a Finnish national previously listed on Interpol’s wanted notices, whom Finland seeks to prosecute in the country’s largest corruption scandal and who owns property in Latvia. The arrest was confirmed to Re:Baltica by Latvia’s Prosecutor General’s Office, as well as by eyewitnesses and individuals connected to Autio’s business activities.
Investigators fail to prove ex-chief of Latvian Bank demanded bribe from ABLV
Work visits to the U.S. described as “fuckery”, promises to “fix things” in the banking sector, disclosure of confidential information in a sauna and false testimony: a dropped case lifts the veil on how the former governor of the Bank of Latvia operated.
Inside scandal-rocked Danske Estonia and the shell-company ‘factories’ that served it
The Estonian banker was frantic: A whistleblower inside the bank suspected nine anonymous companies -- all registered in the United Kingdom -- of serious financial crimes and was threatening to go to authorities.
Global banks defy U.S. crackdowns by serving oligarchs, criminals and terrorists
The FinCEN Files show trillions in tainted dollars flow freely through major banks, swamping a broken enforcement system.
Unchecked by global banks, dirty cash destroys dreams and lives
From Ukraine to the United States, from Tunisia to Turkmenistan, a global ICIJ investigation details the punishing human cost of laundered trillions.