FACT Report Launch: “Dirty Money and the Destruction of the Amazon”

October 26, 2023 | 12 – 1:30pm EDT | Hybrid

English and Spanish interpretation will be available. The report will also be available in English and Spanish.

Speakers will include:

• Jimmy Kirby, Acting Deputy Director, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
• Matthew Spivack, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of Terrorist Financing & Financial Crimes, U.S. Treasury Department
• Vivian Calderoni, Senior Researcher, Instituto Igarapé (Brazil)
• Cesar Ipenza, Professor, Peru’s Universidad del Pacífico
• Julio Cusurichi, President of FENAMAD and leader of Peru’s Shipibo-Conibo community, Madre de Dios Region
• Susanne Breitkopf, Deputy Director of the Forest Campaign, Environmental Investigation Agency
• Ian Gary, Executive Director, FACT Coalition

Updates will be provided to registrants via email, as well as on FACT’s event page. Timely registration for in-person attendees is recommended, as space is limited.

Remote attendees will receive a confirmation email with Zoom login credentials prior to the event.

About the report: Environmental crimes, such as illegal mining and logging, are the third largest type of criminal activity in the world, yielding as much as $281 billion in proceeds every year. There is a pervasive perception that environmental crimes are “low-risk, high-reward” offenses. The Financial Action Task Force as well as experts in the U.S. and Latin America have asserted that there are serious legal, information sharing, and capacity challenges that make it difficult to investigate and prosecute these offenses. Financial secrecy – which environmental criminals use to obscure their identity, facilitate their operations, and launder the proceeds of crime – is no small part of that equation.

The United States, as the world’s largest economy and premier supplier of financial secrecy, has a crucial role to play in denying financial safe haven to criminals that would degrade the Amazon. The FACT Coalition’s 100-plus members, including prominent environmental organizations, advocate for policies to combat the harmful impacts of corrupt financial practices.

FACT’s new report draws on interviews with local and regional activists, indigenous leaders, anti-money laundering experts, and government officials in Peru, Colombia, and the United States to show how financial secrecy contributes to facilitating these crimes. The report will lay out a comprehensive U.S. reform agenda.

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