From the information that surfaced, ‘ Eaglewood’  probably started in 2007 when undercover detectives were following two convicted drug dealers to an unknown individual, who was later identified as Eyad Iktilat. After being arrested, one of them was found to have been carrying over 1,36 million euros in a bag.

Iktilat appeared to be a big fish, with plenty of luxury cars and real estate. Royal Oak Taxis, a rundown, fortified garage and cafe was run by Israeli-born Iktilat.  He was also a director of the nearby Euro Foreign Exchange, through which up to £1m a day in drug money would be laundered.

Iktilat, of Euston, north London, denied counts of money laundering, conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis, and possession of cocaine, but was convicted after a five-month trial. Initially jailed for 21 years, his sentence was increased to 30 on appeal. “He did not believe he was doing anything wrong. He believed he was acting as a bank,” said an officer. In two years, an estimated £100m passed through the ramshackle breeze-block taxi building. It was then taken to the bureau de change. There, manager Jean-Claude Frigieri, 56, of West Molesey, Surrey, bought up to €450,000 at a time, sometimes several times a day, from a bank note wholesaler called Interchange, which had no idea about his criminal dealings. He was convicted of money laundering and jailed for 10 years.

The money laundering consisted of buying 500 euro notes at Euro Foreign Exchange with drug money; the first stage in concealing the dirty origin of the money. And a perfect way to reduce the weight and volume of the drug money. Did you hear that Colombian cartels prefer 500 euro notes as payment for supplying cocaine rather than $100 notes?

The Guardian reports that Iraqi refugee Maythem al-Ansari was the main banker. When police swooped on his £3m west London home they had to use a digger and angle grinders to smash through a fortified security wall. He arrived in Britain in 1999 as Mithum Mohammed, later changing his name to al-Ansari, a famous banking name in Saudi Arabia. He worked as a bus driver but swiftly built up a multi-million-pound property empire. By 2004 he was investing in restaurants and vineyards and specializing in properties in Park Lane and Mayfair. The 42-year-old used business links to lend an air of legitimacy, and could exchange large amounts without attracting suspicion, making him the perfect cover for someone to change large amounts of cash into euros.

For a 5% ‘ introduction fee’ criminals could use the money laundering services of the taxi company, being the exchange to 500 euro notes. Details on the use of the notes were not made public, but you can assume they were used to pay for the cocaine on one hand, and used to invest in real estate and other goods for the criminals themselves on the other. Only a couple of criminals actually build up a ‘ legitimate’  business with dirty money. Most of them just try to find ‘clever’ ways to enjoy their lifestyles without being caught in the web…

Among the sentenced was a London ‘hero’ fire fighter, commended for his role in the bombing response, who was going down in the aftermath of the London bombings. He was on sick leave suffering from ‘ stress’ .  Owning two audis and leading a ‘ champagne lifestyle’ , some people had some doubts about the ‘ stress’ . He was however arrested while putting 100 kilogram of cocaine in smaller bags. The drugs had been picked up from a beach in the a coastal town the previous night, having been smuggled from continental Europe on a rigid-hulled inflatable speedboat. Try to talk you out of that one; that must be stressy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12120309

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11930487

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/05/police-smash-london-drug-gangster-syndicate

http://www.policeprofessional.com/news.aspx?id=11787

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11193687

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D3L7RrwhOQ

http://mafiatoday.com/sicilian-mafia-ndrangheta/a1-15b-seized-over-mafia-links-in-italy/

http://www.tg1.rai.it/dl/tg1/2010/articoli/ContentItem-f3352d8d-c3fd-4ce6-9cd3-1e0b924fb2cb.html

Coronel had used two houses located in the Guadalajara neighborhood of Colinas de San Javier as “safe houses”. In these safe houses the militairy uncovered weapons (grenades, handgunds), jewelry, vehicles and cash. More specifically; the soldiers found $ 7 million in cash. Since a US-Mexican study estimated MX money laundering at $ 19 billion annually, $ 7 million is probably just a week’s worth for the former King of Ice, but still significant enough to hurt. Hopefully. Let’s see what reaction this blow will have; the Mexican situation is still fluid.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/07/29/mexico.cartel.leader.killed/?hpt=T2#fbid=EGNOAszoT6g

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignacio_Coronel_Villarreal

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/01/nacho-coronel-obituary

http://financialcrimeonline.com/archives/898

http://financialcrimeonline.com/archives/886

http://financialcrimeonline.com/archives/848

“..Among the findings in the new report, which features a number of high-impact maps and charts that illustrate illicit flows and their markets are: Europe is the highest-value regional heroin market (US$ 20 billion), while the Russian Federation is now the single largest national heroin consumer in the world (70 tons). Countries that grow most of the world’s illicit drugs, like Afghanistan (opium) and Colombia (coca), receive the most attention and criticism. Yet, most drug-related profits are made in the destination (rich) countries. For example, out of a global market of perhaps US$ 55 billion for Afghan heroin, only about 5 per cent (US$ 2.3 billion) goes to Afghan farmers, traders and insurgents. The report shows that the North American cocaine market is shrinking because of lower demand and greater law enforcement, which in turn has generated a turf war among trafficking gangs, particularly in Mexico, and new drug routes..”.

UNODC states that crime has internationalized faster than law enforcement and governance. That is obviously not a new finding, as is this one: “Criminals are motivated by profit: so let us go after their money,” said Mr. Costa (UNODC chief), adding that “We must increase the risks and lower the incentives that enable the bloody hand of organized crime to manipulate the invisible hand of competition”. He called for more robust implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, more effective anti-money-laundering measures, and a crackdown on bank secrecy:

“..That means strengthening integrity by implementing the United Nations Convention against Corruption. It also means stopping informal money transfers (hawala), offshore banking and the recycling through real estates that make it possible to launder money. In particular, governments and financial institutions should implement Article 52 of the anti-corruption Convention that requires Parties to know their customers, determine the beneficial owners of funds and prevent banking secrecy from protecting proceeds from crime..”.

The emphasis on financial investigation and asset forfeiture has increased world wide, as has the bank secrecy crackdown. But financial investigations are labor intensive, complex from an international law point of view and dependent on a commitment to dedicate resources that could also target other types of crime that allow a more direct ‘result on investigation’.

The difficulty to actual reduce (organized) crime is well described by this view on organized crime:

“..Today, organized crime seems to be less a matter of a group of individuals who are involved in a range
of illicit activities, and more a matter of a group of illicit activities in which some individuals and groups are presently involved. If these individuals are arrested and incarcerated, the activities continue, because the illicit market, and the incentives it generates, remain. Strategies aimed at the groups will not stop the illicit activities if the dynamics of the market remain unaddressed..”

The UNODC report has chapters dedicated to different types of crime. Financial crime, fraud and money laundering are not amongst them. UNODC understands that money is key to all types of organized crime so the financial aspect is touched upon in these chapters. Fraud is not a separate chapter; fraud is probably one of the types of crime that generates billions yearly. But while cocaine is cocaine all over the globe, the variance in fraud is significant. This makes fraud more difficult to measure. Let’s see if fraud makes a grand appearance in organized crime statistics someday.

The UNODC report, as always, is a great source of statistics. It describes recent developments in the major crime areas such as drugs, human trafficking and firearms. Just under 300 pages, give it a go on a rainy Sunday morning..

http://tinyurl.com/368dchp

The cash is brought into Mexico both in amounts small enough for an individual to carry and in amounts large enough to fill shipping containers. Revenue from local dealing operations across the U.S. is first consolidated in cities that serve as “collection points,” including Los Angeles, then moved to the border and broken up again for the cross-border leg of the transport.

In Mexico, where 75% of the formal and informal economy works through cash transactions, cartel bosses can launder their profits with all-cash purchases of large tracts of land, luxury hotels, cars, car dealerships and an endless array of high-end items.

The fight between the Mexican administration and the cartels claimed around 27,000 lives. As we speak the Mexicans are still not able to stop the violence, the inflow of money and related corruption.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jun/03/world/la-fg-mexico-cash-20100603

http://financialcrimeonline.com/archives/886

http://financialcrimeonline.com/archives/609

http://financialcrimeonline.com/archives/848

Mayor Sanchez is suspected of tipping off and protecting the Beltran Leyva and Zetas drug cartels – gangs known for brutal tactics including beheading rivals. He had taken a leave of absence as Cancun mayor to run for governor of Quintana Roo state, known for turquoise Caribbean waters and white-sand beaches marketed as the Mayan Riviera.

On May 13, gunmen killed a mayoral candidate in a town near the border with Texas after he ignored warnings to quit the race. Several other candidates have received threats, and in some towns near the U.S. border, some parties couldn’t find anyone to run for mayor.

High-level corruption remains one of the biggest impediments in the fight against drug trafficking in Western Hemisphere countries that have become key smuggling corridors. In Jamaica, security forces are fighting supporters of a major drug trafficking suspect who has ties to the ruling party and is resisting extradition to the U.S. In Guatemala, the national anti-drug czar and police chief are under arrest in a case involving cocaine and slain police.

The Sanchez case will be another tough test for Mexico’s judicial system and its ability to successfully prosecute high-profile drug and corruption cases.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64P5ST20100526

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/26/cancun-mayor-arrested-for_n_590013.html

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-cancun-20100527,0,1967342.story

During raids law enforcement officers have been seizing more and more stash houses full of euros, with the 500 euro note in a leading role. Estimates vary but it is commonly accepted that 80% of 500 euro notes are only used for shady business and cash stashes. The UK based Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) says 90% of the 500 notes sold in the UK are in the hands of organized crime. A SOCA deputy director said 500 euros had become the currency of choice for gangs hiding their profits. SOCA says that an eight-month analysis of movements of the note in the UK revealed that it was almost exclusively used by money launderers shifting cash for major crime gangs.

With this pressure from law enforcement, exchange offices in the UK have stopped selling 500 euro banknotes because of their use by money launderers. The impact of this measure is not predictable but it will be more difficult to change smaller street money for larger denominations. Or does it? It will probably result in a new market for money launders. The 500 euro note obviously is not illicit itself; changes to larger denominations will probably go underground now in the UK, resulting in less CTR’s filed by bureaus de change. Let’s wait for the UK’s assessment of the effectiveness of the ban.

Remember the Canadian $1000 note? That was withdrawn because of crime (money laundering) concerns. The eurozone countries have announced no plans to withdraw the 500 euro note as of yet. Just a matter of time?






http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8678886.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8678979.stm

The (DEA) investigation apparently started when in 2005 dogs sniffed cocaine in an airplane in Miami. The money used to buy the plane was traced back to Mexican exhange houses; that is how the interest for the money flow from the exhange houses from Wachovia started.

Wachovia admitted offering correspondent banking services to 22 Casa de Cabio’s  (CDC) through three methods: wire-transferring money on behalf of third-party customers; accepting bulk cash transfers made by armored cars and other methods; and accepting checks and traveler’s checks put in pouches or digitally scanned through “remote deposit capture.”

From May 2004 to May 2007, Wachovia processed at least $373 billion in wire transfers on behalf of CDCs, the bank admitted. It processed $4.7 billion in bulk cash and $47 billion in ‘remote deposite capture’ deposits for all correspondent banking customers, including Mexican exchange houses, Wachovia admitted.

The case is USA v. Wachovia Bank, 10-cr-20165, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida (Miami).

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-17/wachovia-to-pay-160-million-to-end-laundering-probe-update1-.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/business/18launder.html

This week the feds took down a ring of Medicare fraudsters in Florida. A physician and 29 nurses and health care operators got busted. The doctor is accused of accepting bribes to write prescriptions for about 1,300 homebound patients at Courtesy and other local clinics. But the patients didn’t need the prescribed diabetic, physical therapy and other costly services billed to Medicare, according to a federal indictment.

The arrests underscored the federal push to stamp out the latest fraud scheme in South Florida: billing Medicare for phony home healthcare claims such as treating diabetics who don’t have the disease. Previous schemes in the region, dubbed the nation’s Medicare fraud capital, were dominated by false claims for medical equipment and HIV infusion services.

Some patients were also implicated; they allegedly accepted kickbacks to use their medical files and medicare number for the false claims. Authorities said a patient was paid $100 for each prescription and referral to a home-care agency, and patients were given between $700 and $1,500 in monthly kickbacks for their Medicare numbers. Home-care operators also bribed patients with groceries, housekeeping, even flat-screen TVs, authorities said.

CBS news ’60 minutes’ ran a good story on Medicare fraud a good month ago. It documented non existing medical offices with registered addresses in shopping malls and strips full of pharmacies with hardly any patients visiting them. But the steady stream of invoices originating from these ‘fake’ offices are very real. And they get reimbursed by Medicare. CBS reported that according to the FBI, all you have to do to get into this business is rent a cheap storefront office, find or create a front man to get an occupational license, bribe a doctor or forge a prescription pad, and obtain the names and ID numbers of legitimate Medicare patients you can bill the phony charges to. “There’s a whole industry of people out there that do nothing but provide lists of patients, people’s names, Social Security numbers, addresses, and date of birth. With those four things, you can bill for a patient”. Medicare is obliged to pay the invoices within a month. It doesn’t have the resources to perform effective (fraud) controls on the waterfall of invoices. Medicare has just three field inspectors in all of South Florida to check up on thousands of questionable medical equipment companies.

Fraud is sometimes caught by patients earlier than Medicare. When patients review their Medicare statements and see all sorts of medicine and medical procedures they have absolutely no knowledge of, they ring the fraud bell. The FBI calls it “pay and chase”. First Medicare pays, then they chase. But the phony offices move every two months or so, just to be sure they won’t get caught. What an industry….. Guess what we would choose if we had to pick a criminal career; drugs or Medicare fraud?

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/1383909.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/23/60minutes/main5414390.shtml

http://financialcrimeonline.com/archives/649

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15178883

http://www.stopmedicarefraud.gov/