Posing as would-be money launderers, corrupt officials, and terrorist financiers in need of anonymous shell companies, a research team solicited more than 3,700 corporate service providers that operate in 182 onshore and offshore countries/jurisdictions. The aim was to see how morally and legally flexible corporate service providers were prepared to be when potentially lucrative - but obviously-dodgy - business was dangled in front of them.
The experiment was documented in a report entitled 'Global Shell Games: Testing Money Launderers' and Terrorist Financiers' Access to Shell Companies' that was published in September, 2012 by the Centre for Governance and Public Policy, at Griffith University, in Australia.
In this presentation, one of the report's authors, Dan Nielson, will explain how the experiment was conducted and analyze its results, including comparing how offshore jurisdictions compared with their onshore counterparts.