Perhaps now we can answer the question. Where does the massive illicit drug money go? It goes into property. Into businesses. Into luxury. Into automobiles. Into jewellery. Into hospitality. Into entertainment. Into investments. Into elaborate financial structures. Into philanthropy. Into influence. And, perhaps most importantly, into the manufacture of a new identity. Because the ultimate […]

THE REAL CURRENCY IS NOT MONEY. IT IS RESPECTABILITY. This is perhaps the most uncomfortable part of the entire story. Criminal wealth does not necessarily want to remain criminal wealth. It wants to become something else. A business. A property empire. A luxury brand. A philanthropic foundation. A respected family. A social institution. A powerful […]

THE LAULAU series. Now we arrive at the part everybody sees. The spraying. The parties. The champagne. The celebrities. The convoys. The jewellery. The outrageous gifts. The money thrown around with the abandon of someone who has discovered that there is apparently no bottom to the well. And suddenly, my original question begins to answer […]

THE BUSINESS FRONT. Now we enter the territory where things can become genuinely sophisticated. Import & export. Freight & forwarding. Automobile trading. Real estate/Properties. Construction. Hospitality. Fashion. Luxury retail. Entertainment. All perfectly legitimate industries. And that is precisely the point. Because a legitimate industry can, in the wrong hands, potentially be abused to create the […]

THE MACHINES. Those magnificent, eye-watering machines that cost an arm, a leg & perhaps another limb for good measure. Rolls-Royce. Bentley. Maybach. Ferrari. Lamborghini. Range Rover. The more exotic, the better. And when you already have more money than you can reasonably spend, converting some of it into something spectacular becomes very tempting. Luxury automobiles […]

WELCOME TO THE NIGHTLIFE. Now, this is where things become particularly interesting. Nightclubs. Lounges. Hotels. Restaurants. Entertainment venues. Cash-intensive businesses have long attracted attention from anti-money-laundering authorities because, in the wrong hands, legitimate revenue can potentially provide camouflage for illicit proceeds. Again, before somebody starts shouting: “So every nightclub owner is a drug dealer?” No. […]

REAL ESTATE. Land. Houses. Commercial buildings. Hotels. Entire estates. There is a reason property has always been attractive to people trying to turn questionable wealth into something that looks respectable. Property can swallow enormous sums. A mountain of unexplained money suddenly becomes an estate. The estate becomes an investment. The investment appreciates. It can generate […]

For those wondering what I mean by laulau, I am talking about the unprecedented show-off. The unnecessary loudness. The compulsive flaunting. The extravagant display of wealth that appears to have no ceiling, &, sometimes, no discernible explanation. But there is a question that the uninitiated inevitably asks whenever the staggering figures associated with the illicit […]