STR: Suspicious Transaction Report

In this episode, host Tom Keatinge, CFS Director, is joined by Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Director of the Transatlantic Security Program at CNAS, to discuss her co-authored article 'Axis of Upheaval'. They discuss the convergence of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea and the challenges posed across economic, military, political and technological dimensions. The conversation also delves into whether t...

In the first episode of the season, host Kinga Redlowska, Head of CFS Europe, is joined by Bethany Allen, author of Beijing Rules: China's Quest for Global Influence. They discuss how China has developed its economic statecraft in recent years, the innovative methods used to achieve its geopolitical ends, and what the West can do to respond to increasingly muscular Chinese economic activities.

In this teaser, host Kinga Redlowska, Head of CFS Europe, is joined by CFS Director Tom Keatinge to launch the theme for the new season, 'The Future Of'. Listen now to get a sneak peek at the range of topics and new ideas that will feature in Season Seven of the STR podcast.

In the last episode of this season, host Tom Keatinge, CFS Director, is joined by T Raja Kumar, former President of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). They discuss some of the key achievements during his presidency, such as his focus on asset recovery, increased FATF engagement with regional bodies around the world, the unprecedented suspension of Russia from the FATF, and what to expect as t...

In this episode, host Tom Keatinge, CFS Director, is joined by Darya Dolzikova, RUSI Research Fellow, to discuss her recent paper, 'Power Plays: Developments in Russian Enriched Uranium Trade'. They discuss the financial and diplomatic benefits Russia derives from its nuclear resources and industry expertise, the extent of Western dependencies on Russian enriched uranium despite some efforts to di...

Host Tom Keatinge, CFS Director, is joined by Geoff White, Investigative Journalist and author of Rinsed. They discuss cybercrime, money laundering, crypto hacking by North Korea, how criminals collaborate across multiple jurisdictions to evade the law, the recruitment of money-laundering mules, and the evolution of dark web marketplaces like Silk Road and Hydra.

In this episode, host Tom Keatinge, CFS Director, is joined by Justyna Gudzowska, CFS Associate Fellow, and Tom Stocks, Senior Investigative Journalist at the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. They discuss their recently published paper 'Disabling the Enablers of Sanctions Circumvention,' the threat of frivolous lawsuits aimed at silencing independent, critical journalism, and why...

In this episode, CFS Director Tom Keatinge is joined by Peter Geoghegan, Investigative Reporter at the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project – a global network of journalists – and author of Democracy for Sale. They discuss the role of 'dark money' in political funding, loopholes you can see from space, the lack of regulatory accountability on social media, the way think tanks can influ...

Host Tom Keatinge, CFS Director, discusses the impact of sanctions against Russia with Vladimir Milov, Vice President, Free Russia Foundation.  In this episode, Tom Keatinge and Vladimir Milov discuss the impact that sanctions against Russia are having on the nation's economy and its people, the Kremlin's dwindling finances, and why Ukraine's allies must maintain pressure and focus to make sanctio...

In this episode, host Tom Keatinge, CFS Director, is joined by Kathryn Westmore, CFS Senior Research Fellow, and Sahil Shah, Managing Director, Say No to Disinfo. Together, they explore how the spread of misinformation on social media is an emerging threat to financial stability, the role of misinformation in lasts year's Silicon Valley Bank collapse, and what banks, regulators and governments can...

In this episode, Kinga Redlowska, Head of CFS Europe, is joined by Zoe Reiter, Director for Kleptocracy at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and Tom Keatinge, CFS Director and author of a new RUSI paper entitled 'Combating Kleptocracy: Lessons from the Response to Russia's War in Ukraine'. They discuss the fight against kleptocracy, how Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has energis...

In this special edition episode of the Suspicious Transaction Report, CFS Director Tom Keatinge and Head of CFS Europe Kinga Redlowska discuss the motivation behind the programme's recent name change, upcoming research outputs, and what exciting activities will take place in 2024 as CFS celebrates 10 years of pioneering analysis and research.

Host Allison Owen, CFCS Associate Fellow, is joined by David Carlisle, Vice President of Policy and Regulatory Affairs at blockchain analysis and crypto data company Elliptic London, and RUSI Associate Fellow, to discuss all things cryptocurrency. With David's new book The Crypto Launderers: Crime and Cryptocurrencies from the Dark Web to DeFi and Beyond just out, they delve into the complex inter...

In this episode, host Gonzalo Saiz, CFCS Research Fellow, is joined by Daniel Tannebaum, Partner at management consultancy firm Oliver Wyman, and Jan Dunin-Wasowicz, Partner and Co-Chair of Hughes Hubbard & Reed's Sanctions, Export Controls & Anti-Money Laundering practice group. They discuss the differences in the US and EU approaches to sanctions against Russia, how tackling the practice of sanc...

Host Tom Keatinge, CFCS Director, is joined by Xolisile Khanyile, former head of South Africa's Financial Intelligence Centre and RUSI Senior Associate Fellow. They discuss her decades-long career as a prosecutor in the financial crime world, illegal wildlife trafficking, public-private partnerships, South Africa's FATF 'grey-listing', and how everyday crime impacts South Africa's response to mone...

Host Tom Keatinge, CFCS Director, is joined by Liz Rosenberg, former Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes at the US Department of the Treasury. They discuss her ambitions for combatting illicit finance as she re-entered the US Treasury in 2021, her role in the review of the US sanctions strategy, the measures developed to respond to Russia's unprovoked war in Ukraine, i...

Martin Sandbu, European economics commentator at the Financial Times, discusses the challenges and opportunities involved in using Russia's currently frozen Central Bank assets to support Ukraine's economy and reconstruction. The hashtag 'Russia Must Pay' is frequently trending on social media, boosted by politicians, civil society organisations and individuals outraged by Russia's continued aggre...

China's regular muscle-flexing and other threatening moves towards Taiwan poses a great challenge. How should the West think about this behaviour, given the integration of China into the international economy and the extent to which the West relies on trade with Beijing? Could sanctions be used as a policy instrument here? In this episode, host Kinga Redlowska, Head of CFCS Europe, is joined by Em...

The financial crime and sanctions world has mushroomed into a global industry. Thousands of compliance officers, analysts, policymakers and law enforcement officials are involved in some element of this behemoth. Among these many thousands, a few figures have emerged as opinion formers – those who found themselves at the forefront of developments. In this episode, host Tom Keatinge, Director of th...

Sanctions circumvention has been at the core of policy discussions on restrictive measures. But what does 'circumvention' mean, and what is the on-the-ground reality in the countries that are so often associated with this activity? Host Kinga Redlowska, Head of CFCS Europe, is joined by Carl Schreck, investigative journalist at Radio Free Europe, and Olivia Allison, CFCS Associate Fellow, to discu...

While the tempo of Russia sanctions issuance has dropped off, policymakers and diplomats are working to boost their effectiveness. But what does 'sanctions effectiveness' mean and how can we measure it? And are sanctions serving their purpose to undermine the Russian war machine? Host Kinga Redlowska, Head of CFCS Europe, is joined by Elina Ribakova, Non-resident Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute...

Those in the private sector can often feel stuck between policymakers who fear cryptocurrencies are undermining their carefully built regulatory fortifications, and the online world of dark markets beyond those regulatory walls. Host Tom Keatinge is joined by co-author Allison Owen, CFCS Associate Fellow, and Rodrigo Peiteado, Senior Manager of Digital Asset investigations at BVNK, to discuss a ne...

Effective implementation of sanctions requires cooperation with partners around the globe. Host Tom Keatinge, Director of CFCS at RUSI, sat down with EU Sanctions Envoy David O'Sullivan in Brussels to explore the EU's approach to negotiations with third countries to clamp down on the circumvention of sanctions, emphasise the importance of data in sanctions diplomacy and stress the role of the priv...

Before 7 October 2023, the terrorist threat posed by Hamas was largely clouded by preoccupation with geopolitical tensions and the ongoing war in Ukraine. But not anymore. Hamas's coordinated attacks on Israel and the resultant conflict has made the terror group's threat and its financing unavoidable. Host Stephen Reimer unpacks the key issues and debunks some common myths at the heart of the Hama...

Recently, the political class in Westminster has been consumed with with the conduct of bank accounts or, more specifically, when these are being closed, unilaterally, by banks. It's a long running problem. Might the spotlight brought to the issue by Nigel Farage finally create some overdue action by the UK government? In this episode, host Tom Keatinge is joined by Izabella Kaminska from Politico...