The Sink : How the Real World Works - Terror, Crime and Dirty Money

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1841196827 ISBN 13: 9781841196824

Publisher: Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2003

"The Money Sink" tells the how, when and why of criminal and terrorist money laundering, the murky and ultra-secret world where the line between legitimate business and crime vanishes. In 1994, when Jeffrey Robinson, author of "The Laundrymen", first brought to the world's attention the problems of dirty money - revealing how otherwise legitimate lawyers, bankers, accountants and even governments were helping drug traffickers hide the proceeds of their crimes - he labelled money laundering the world's third largest business, estimating that at any given time there was around $300 billion circling the globe, looking to get clean. Now, in the sequel to "The Laundrymen", Robinson calculates that the dirty money business has doubled in less than ten years and is ever more sophisticated (law enforcement and concerned governments flounder in its wake) - and he lays the blame on the offshore world. In an eye-opening piece of investigative journalism, Robinson reveals the state of the art of business-as-crime worldwide. As vast profits are turned into seemingly legitimate money, lawyers, bankers, accountants, brokers and governments have sold out to the mob and terrorists learn the lessons too and use Western financial networks to finance attacks on those same systems.

From the Inside Flap:

The paradise islands of the Caribbean hide some ugly secrets ? and some very dirty financial dealings

Following in the footsteps of two previous international bestsellers ? The Laundrymen and The Merger ? Jeffrey Robinson brings the story of dirty money full circle, back to the Caribbean islands where the business of crime does its banking.

In tracking the route it takes, Robinson shows how dirty money ? for the most part, the proceeds of fraud and drugs ? drives much of the world?s economy, how a few people have tried to do something about it, and how an unlikely cabal of powerful forces ? politicians, government agents, major corporations, criminals, and terrorists ? are intent on maintaining the status quo. He also exposes Canada?s central role in this underground economy. Not only has Canada been host to several huge investment frauds, but it is particularly Canadian banking interests in the Caribbean that offer the services money launderers need to clean the proceeds of their crimes.

Robinson lifts the lid on the lawyers, bankers, accountants, company formation agents, CEOs, and despots who have created ? and who actively sustain ? a world of window-dressing regulations where criminals and corporate giants live side by side, and by the same rules, beyond the reach of governments and the law.

About the Author:

Jeffrey Robinson is the international bestselling author of 20 books, including the widely acclaimed Laundrymen - Inside Money Laundering, the World's Third Largest Business, and The Merger - How Transnational Organized Crime Is Taking Over The World. A native New Yorker, he now lives in Pulborough, England.