The EU is adding Russia to its blacklist of countries at high risk of money laundering and financing terrorism, according to two EU officials and a document seen by POLITICO. The global watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) suspended Russia as a member after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but failed to blacklist it, despite evidence presented by the Ukrainian government, because of opposition from countries in the BRICS group of emerging economies, which includes Brazil, India, China, and South Africa. EU lawmakers called on the Commission many times to do what FATF was not able to. The Commission committed to complete a review by the end of 2025 to get their support to remove the United Arab Emirates and Gibraltar from the list earlier this year. POLITICO saw a draft of the Russia decision, which will be an annex to the list. In other internal documents, the Commission had said that the assessment was complicated by the lack of information-sharing with Moscow. The EU already has a wide range of sanctions heavily limiting access to EU financial services for Russian firms. The blacklisting is landing as the EU executive is trying to end Belgium’s resistance to using the revenues from Moscow’s frozen assets to fund Ukraine. The move will oblige financial institutions to strengthen due diligence on all transactions and force banks that have not already acted to further de-risk. The EU has usually aligned itself with FATF decisions, but from this year, it has its own Anti-Money Laundering Authority. AMLA will contribute to drafting the blacklist from July 2027. Dutch top official Hennie Verbeek-Kusters, a former chair of the financial intelligence cooperation body Egmont Group, is set to join the AMLA authority executive board after a positive hearing with lawmakers held behind closed doors, one of the EU officials said. A vote on the appointment is due on Dec. 15, said a third official.

ATHENS — Greek authorities made dozens of arrests on Wednesday related to Greece’s spiraling farm fraud case, in an investigation led by European prosecutors. Some 37 people suspected of being members of an organized criminal group involved in large-scale agricultural funding fraud and money laundering activities were arrested, and searches were carried out throughout the country, according to a statement by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. In a snowballing scandal, the EPPO is pursuing dozens of cases in which Greeks allegedly received agricultural funds from the European Union for pastureland they did not own or lease, or for agricultural work they did not perform, depriving legitimate farmers of the funds they deserved. POLITICO first reported on the scheme in February. Several ministers and deputy ministers have resigned over their alleged involvement in the scandal. The EU has already fined Athens €400 million after finding evidence of systemic failings in the handling of farm subsidies from 2016 through to 2023. Greece also risks losing its EU farm subsidies unless it provides an improved action plan on how it will stop funds being siphoned off into corruption. The original deadline was Oct. 2, but this has now been pushed back to Nov. 4. “The Commission is awaiting the submission of the revised action plan and in the meantime, it continues to be in contact with the Greek authorities,” a European Commission spokesperson told POLITICO earlier this month. Wednesday’s operation centered on a criminal network accused of illegally obtaining EU farm subsidies through false declarations submitted to the organization in charge of distributing EU farm funds in Greece, OPEKEPE. According to the EPPO, in the course of the preliminary investigation, 324 individuals were identified as subsidy recipients, causing an estimated cost of more than €19.6 million to the EU budget. Of these, 42 are believed to be involved in this case and are considered current members of the criminal group, says the EPPO. Most of them appear to have no actual connection to farming or producing, according to the Greek and EU authorities. The EPPO said that, at least since 2018, the group “allegedly exploited procedural gaps” in the submission of applications using falsified or misleading documents to claim agricultural subsidies from OPEKEPE. They are suspected of fraudulently declaring pastureland that did not belong to them or did not meet eligibility criteria. They allegedly inflated livestock numbers to increase their subsidy entitlements. To conceal the illicit origin of the proceeds, they are believed to have issued fictitious invoices, routed the funds through multiple bank accounts, and mixed them with legitimate income. Part of the misappropriated money was allegedly spent on luxury goods, travel and vehicles, to disguise the funds as lawful assets. Greece’s anti-money laundering authority is investigating Giorgos Xylouris, a farmer from Crete and until recently member of ruling New Democracy. Xylouris is one of the key characters mentioned in EPPO case files, under the nickname Frappé (“Iced Coffee”), regarding the OPEKEPE scandal. Some €2.5 million was discovered in his bank accounts during a random inspection, the Greek officials said. Authorities found that Xylouris had failed to submit the required financial documentation and could not justify the large sum. Eight vehicles were also identified in his possession, including a Jaguar luxury car. The case file has been sent to the prosecutors to examine possible violations of anti-bribery laws and an investigation is ongoing regarding whether money laundering has occurred.

MEET THE MAFIA-BUSTING MEP TAKING THE FIGHT AGAINST ORGANIZED CRIME TO BRUSSELS Giuseppe Antoci battled the Italian mob. But can he take on EU policymaking? By ELENA GIORDANO and ALESSANDRO FORD in Sicily, Italy Photo-illustration by Matt Needle for POLITICO As he sat waiting for the barriers to lift, Giuseppe Antoci’s mind raced. The Italian politician was in the back seat of the car, flanked by his security detail, who had stepped out to surround him while the train rumbled past. The road was quiet, the cool December night still. The lack of street lighting made it impossible to see what could be waiting in the dark as he made his way home. “Stopping at a level crossing is never a good thing for us,” he said. Advertisement After what felt like an age, the train passed. The security guards got back in the car, the barriers lifted and they continued on their way. It’s moments like these that the 58-year-old fears. Eight years ago, while driving home under police escort, he and his guards narrowly survived a mob ambush, retribution for his national anti-corruption drive. “The mafia, you see, does not forget,” he said. “If they want to get back at you, they find the way.”  Antoci, a folk hero in Italy for his anti-mob activism, is familiar with taking on mafia activities at home — and braving the risks. In Italy, he successfully campaigned to tighten background checks on EU farm subsidies, after discovering large-scale mafia fraud to co-opt EU cash. Now, Antoci has set his sights on a loftier goal: enacting the checks at the EU level and driving the bloc’s crackdown on organized crime and money laundering. Advertisement Elected on an anti-establishment wave in last June’s European election, he arrived in Brussels with the wind in his sails. But the obstacles are many: Antoci is far from being a seasoned EU policymaker, Brussels is relatively toothless on judicial and security policy, and the political winds mean the Commission is seeking to reduce, not grow, its regulatory role. Giuseppe Antoci has taken on Italy’s mob. But can he take on Brussels? ROAD TO POLITICS Meeting Antoci isn’t like meeting other European lawmakers. There’s no coffee at the Parliament bar, no chitchat on the margins of a committee session. POLITICO was brought to a secluded hallway covered by CCTV cameras. Grim-faced men opened the door, bulges on their belts. The walls were lined with decorations and honorary diplomas; the window faced an ugly, concrete block — a necessity against snipers. For all that, he was warmly accommodating, a squat, shaven-headed figure smiling at us through rimless glasses. He starts by telling us his story. Antoci grew up in Sicily during the “Years of Lead”: when political and criminal violence wracked the country and the island’s homegrown mafia, the Cosa Nostra, declared war on the Italian state. A dedicated pupil, he kept his head down, studying economics at the University of Messina. Antoci wants to elevate his battle against the mafia to a new level. | Alexis Haulot/EP From there, he entered banking, eventually becoming a regional director and starting a family. He and his wife raised three daughters in a villa in Santo Stefano di Camastra, a town on the northern coast. It was a rich life and Antoci says he never aspired to enter the political limelight. Now, that big house — in which he’d pictured hosting friends at roaring dinner parties — is guarded by the military. Nobody, outside of his family members, can get near it.  “All these plans … they all went up in smoke,” he said, with a wistful edge to his voice. In 2013, Antoci took a new job: president of Nebrodi Park, the largest natural protected area in Sicily. Advertisement “It’s a fantastic place,” he said. “There are spots from which you can see behind you the volcano of Etna, and in front of you the forests, the lakes and the Aeolian Islands, all at the same time.” It was during his tenure at Nebrodi that he came to face-to-face with the mafia for the first time. As he soon discovered, 80 percent of the park’s leases were controlled by Sicilian mob families. Agricultural fraud was rife: Mafia were stealing millions of euros every year from the Common Agricultural Policy, the EU’s €45 billion-a-year farm subsidy pot, by intimidating farmers and preventing competition. For the families, it was easy money: clean capital, deposited into their bank accounts each month. The scheme was so simple that mafiosi even put their relatives’ names on the paperwork. Matteo Messina Denaro, the country’s most wanted mafia boss, had two sisters on subsidies for 30 years, according to a recent investigation by Farm Subsidy, a watchdog website. For Antoci, there was an obvious fix: Background checks on those applying for funds must be tightened. His efforts did not go unnoticed. In 2014, two days before Christmas, Italian authorities discovered through wiretapped conversations that members of Mafia clans were planning to kill Antoci and his family, and immediately placed them under police protection. Within hours, military personnel were surrounding his home. “They probably saved my life,” he said. Two years later, when Antoci was driving home under police escort, his guards noticed the road ahead was blocked. Large rocks had been places across the asphalt. Advertisement As soon as the car stopped, masked men emerged from the bushes on either side of the road and started shooting at the vehicle. Antoci’s security guards shot back. The shooters knew the vehicle was armored and had prepared Molotov cocktails. But when a second car from Antoci’s security detail arrived from behind, the men — thinking their plot had been discovered by authorities — fled. Bullet holes on the car that was transporting Antoci on May 18, 2016. | Francesco Saya/EFE via EPA The incidents left their mark on Antoci. “There are nights when I can’t sleep because I hear the shootings in my head,” he said. The failed hit provoked an uproar in Italy, where Antoci became the first public servant to be attacked since 1992, when the Cosa Nostra assassinated Italian magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. The assailants were never captured, but the following year, parliament voted the Antoci protocol into law. Since then, hundreds of mafiosi and their accomplices have been caught and convicted for defrauding the CAP. Advertisement Antoci was himself courted by all of the country’s main parties. Initially he turned down their offers — the timing just wasn’t right, he told POLITICO. But come 2024, Antoci had change back in his sights. “If I give up this fight because I’m afraid, it means they’ve won. And I can’t let that happen,” he said. He was elected as a member of the European Parliament with the 5Star movement, the left-populist party of former Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. A ‘DELICATE MOMENT’ FOR EUROPE Antoci’s arrival in Brussels comes at a critical time. European organized crime is turning more violent, as cocaine traffickers vie for a market worth €11 billion, equal to the diamond trade. Gangs have graduated into paramilitaries, buying more weapons and muscle, assassinating lawyers and recruiting children. These once-local groups are also going transnational, spanning currencies and continents. Gang-related homicides have spiked as a result, turning public security into an electoral issue in France, the Benelux and Scandinavia. This arguably contributed to the success in last year’s European election not just of transparency campaigners like Antoci, but also far-right, “tough on crime” candidates from Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in France, Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom in the Netherlands, and Tom van Grieken’s Vlaams Belang in Belgium. It was to them that Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was likely appealing when she promised in July that, if re-elected by the new MEPs, she would “respond to this growing threat on a European level,” including by doubling the staff of Europol, the EU agency for law enforcement cooperation. Advertisement  “It’s a very delicate moment,” Antoci said, noting the huge amounts capitals are still spending from the €723 billion Covid-19 recovery fund. “If we get this piece of Europe’s history wrong, we risk funneling enormous sums into the hands of organized crime, and it could take us 30 years to recover.” It’s a message shared by top security officials: nearly 90 percent of the bloc’s crime syndicates have successfully infiltrated the legal economy, according to a recent Europol report. The EU’s usual approach involves pushing paper and that’s important, too. The 2003 European Arrest Warrant Act has led to the capture of over 50,000 alleged criminals since it began. The 2014 European Investigation Order has dramatically sped up cross-border collaboration between law enforcement. The six reforms of the anti-money laundering directive have granted EU countries the world’s best risk ratings, and last year the bloc formed common rules to freeze and confiscate illicit assets.  Police investigators work near the scene of an explosion at a bar in Grenoble, France. | Maxime Gruss/AFP via Getty Images These were landmark laws and the Sicilian MEP wants more of them. He is already working on the 2023 EU anti-corruption directive as a “shadow rapporteur” — Brussels lingo for a political group’s representative on a file. The draft legislation is at final debate between the Parliament and Council. “In the end, we have to ‘follow the money,’” emphasized the former bank director, quoting Falcone.   Antoci’s main goal for the next four and a half years as an MEP is to transform his Protocol Antoci — which tightens background checks for applicants of EU funds — into a European-wide standard. It’s a move he believes would make history. After that Antoci hopes to expand collaboration between, and funding for, Europol, Eurojust and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office; to endorse public health approaches to drug consumption; and to harmonize rules on prisons.  Advertisement The last is particularly important to him, as he believes it’s crucial for the bloc to adopt Italy’s “41-bis” legal article, which suspends certain rights for imprisoned mafiosi (such as no telephone calls, restricted visitation rights, limited time with other prisoners). Though criticized as draconian, Italians tend to see 41-bis as a necessary evil to stop capos continuing to operate from behind bars. The idea had never attracted enough support from other countries to reach the European level, but that may be changing. The Netherlands is reconsidering its stance after the lack of such legislation allowed Europe’s top drug trafficker, Ridouan Taghi, to order the assassination from prison of a witness’s brother and lawyer in 2019, and media adviser in 2021. Taghi’s cousin has been convicted of passing on execution orders and his lawyer is currently on trial. A cell in the Dendermonde prison in Belgium, inaugurated in 2023. | Nicolas Maeterlinck/Belga via AFP/Getty Images Antoci’s initiatives have also won the support of the EU’s new Commissioner for Internal Affairs Magnus Brunner. During his confirmation hearing last November, Brunner praised Antoci as “a source of inspiration” and expressed his intention to revise the EU’s legislation on the fight against organized crime, which he called “outdated.” “We need new rules and new provisions to deal with transnational criminal activities which threaten the lives of citizens, the rule of law and the legal economy. That’s why I foresee an update of this legislation,” Brunner said in response to Antoci’s question during the hearing. BREAKING BRUSSELS There are, however, several major obstacles to Antoci’s ambitions. The first one is that Brussels has little power over judicial and security policy. As sensitive issues, these areas are jealously guarded by member states, meaning the bloc has a weak, shared “competence” (read: jurisdiction) over them.  “The EU doesn’t have any teeth really in terms of organized crime,” said Andrew Cunningham, head of markets, crime, and supply at the EU Drugs Agency. Regulation often represents the lowest common denominator, setting a minimum standard, and right now the Commission is on a deregulatory drive, cutting as much red tape as it can.  Advertisement The Parliament, meanwhile, is even weaker. “As it is currently conceived [it cannot] do much other than promote legislative initiatives and cooperation strategies,” said Vincenzo Musacchio, professor of criminal law and associate at the Rutgers Institute on Anti-Corruption Studies. “An MEP can do little in practice” and “certainly cannot effectively influence the approval of ad hoc anti-Mafia laws.” The second problem is that Antoci is politically isolated. He is a single MEP from a relatively small party in a minor group. His choice of faction affords him no prominent posts in any committees. And as a novice politician, he has no experience of the backroom bargaining or corporate lobbying so intrinsic to making policy in the bubble.  The Sicilian politician says he joined the 5Star Movement for its anti-mafia credentials. Two others had gone before him: Federico Cafiero de Raho, Italy’s top anti-mafia prosecutor until 2022, and Roberto Scarpinato, formerly Palermo’s top magistrate. The party’s leader, Giuseppe Conte, “made me understand that saying ‘no’ is not an innocuous choice,” concluded Antoci. Antoci claims that he is living his experience as MEP like “an act of service” to society. | EP This leads to the third problem. There is a real risk that the Sicilian anti-mafia campaigner becomes a glorified mascot for colleagues to take selfies alongside — and indeed powerbrokers are already lining up with their iPhones. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Parliament President Roberta Metsola, as well as a succession of committee chairs, lawmakers and ambassadors have all snapped pics with the affable Antoci. Whether they then support his proposals remains to be seen. Antoci had a predecessor in the Parliament: another 5Star Movement MEP from Sicily, named Ignazio Corrao. “A most dedicated man,” remembers Antoci. From 2014 to 2024, Corrao advocated for many of the same ideas that his replacement is now promoting. He was the rapporteur on the anti-money laundering law, he denounced mafia theft from the CAP, he called for more cross-border judicial collaboration. Little changed. ACT OF SERVICE Watching Antoci speak to a group of high school students in Gela, a southern Sicilian town long plagued by the Cosa Nostra, one can wonder whether that matters. Can a standard-bearer be just as important as a soldier? “Take an active part in society, get involved in politics,” Antoci urges the students, adding that the younger generation should be watchdogs for their elected representatives.  “Let them tell you what they are working on, how they work and which file they are studying.” After eight months in office, Antoci feels confident that moving to Brussels and joining the European Parliament was the right move, the necessary step to elevate his battle against the mafia to a new level. Advertisement He claimed that he is living his experience as MEP like “an act of service” to society, working relentlessly, and that he barely has time for lunch. “Unlike the colleagues from the third floor,” he joked, referring to those spending their time at the bar on the third floor in the European Parliament building.  However, he admitted, he often misses the direct connection with his homeland and its people that he had before relocating to Brussels. He stressed that the most meaningful work of a politician comes from listening to people and understanding the issues that affect their communities. Reflecting on his decision to continue fighting the Mafia — despite the risks to his life and to his family — Antoci said it has all been worth it.  “Who would I be if I would have given up?” he said. “I would have felt really dirty for the rest of my life.”

LONDON — At London’s annual Frieze art fair, attendees trickle into a fake sauna. Inside, a screen shows a person dressed as a pink alien in fuchsia lingerie, gyrating in an abandoned swimming pool. Thumping techno accompanies the spectacle. An employee speaks over the deep bass to lament Britain’s new anti-money laundering art rules. “It puts off rich people buying art in London because it’s a pain in the backside,” the gallery employee, granted anonymity like others in this article to speak freely about a sensitive topic, said. London’s art market is the third largest in the world, accounting for 17 percent of global sales in 2023, and just behind China, which mostly relies on Hong Kong. But experts fear Britain’s fresh anti-money laundering (AML) clampdown will send the city tumbling down the list. Although they were introduced a few years ago, it’s only in the past year that the British government has started to clamp down aggressively, according to industry experts. The United Kingdom taxman now requires art market participants to register with them for money laundering purposes and follow strict new rules if they sell works worth more than €10,000 — or if they operate a customs warehouse storing works of art above that value. At the heart of the financial crime rules, inherited from the European Union after Brexit in 2020 but adapted to fit the U.K. art market in 2021, is an obligation for sellers to know who their buyers are, requiring proof and verification of identity. “Commercial and personal confidentiality are an important feature of the art market, and for good and valid reasons. However, these new rules are designed to limit the risk of confidentiality being abused in order to hide illicit activity,” say the 2023 guidelines provided by the British Art Market Federation and approved by the U.K.’s Treasury. Industry players, however, say this ruins not only the romance of art sales — but makes them a little awkward too. Frieze, held in London’s Regent’s Park, showcases some of the world’s most expensive art, and has guests willing to meet those price tags. The guest list boasts some of the world’s top A-list celebrities. Spotted on the day POLITICO attended in early October was former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, alongside hordes of glamorous art world insiders.  London’s art market is the third largest in the world, accounting for 17 percent of global sales in 2023. | Henry Nicholls/Getty Images One gallerist at Frieze pointed out the particularly personal nature of the art world. “We have to ask the mates of our boss for their source of funds, ID, proof of address. It makes that personal connection completely different. It’s embarrassing — you don’t want to ask your friends for that.”  Meanwhile, the United States has no art market money laundering regulations, despite New York coming out on top in the global art market rankings. China and Hong Kong don’t include art in their own AML rules, according to an anti-money laundering expert. “Doing business in the U.K. is seen as quite complicated these days. And perception is really important in a global market, where there are alternatives that people can go to,” said Martin Wilson, chief general counsel at Phillips auction house and chairman of the British Art Market Federation.  “The London art market is entrepreneurial, which basically means artwork comes in, gets sold here, and then often leaves the country. For that to happen, you need a really smooth process. You need it to be as smooth as your competitors,” he said. TRAVELING ART But purchasing art and taking it out of the U.K. now involves a lot more red tape. At another stall at Frieze, a large canvas depicts a fluorescent meadow of flowers, just out of reach, hidden behind a wire fence. The painting, a guide tells a crowd of eager onlookers, is supposed to represent the American dream. The freedom and opportunity of that ethos is something one cannot put a price on. The painting is on sale for £85,000. Someone wanting to purchase that piece of art would now be asked where their money came from. In 2020, the Treasury’s national risk assessment for money laundering and terrorist finance determined the art market to be a “high risk” for money laundering. It joins cash, property and other financial services industries in the high-risk bracket.  “The size of the sector, combined with a previous lack of consistent regulation, means the global art market has been an attractive option for criminals to launder money,” the Treasury’s risk assessment said. As a high-risk threat, sellers must follow new rules including registering with tax authority HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), writing a risk assessment to state how exposed they are to money laundering and carrying out customer due diligence before a transaction is concluded. “Art is moved easily across borders. That’s the big advantage of art: A house in central London is a good investment, but you can’t take it with you,” explains Angelika Hellwegger, legal director at law firm Rahman Ravelli.  Purchasing art and taking it out of the U.K. now involves a lot more red tape. | Henry Nicholls/Getty Images And although the rules began a few years ago, it’s this year that HMRC has picked up the pace on compliance. “As a company, we have had about three times as many clients receiving interventions from HMRC so far in 2024,” said the expert who works in art and anti-money laundering.  “It feels like the honeymoon period is over. The pace has been definitely accelerating, both in the number of galleries investigated and the strictness of implementation. Previously, they would ask: ‘Are you registered and were you doing the basics?’ And now their questions are much more aggressive and assertive.” Financial penalties have already been dished out. Under the new regulations, between 2021 and spring 2023, 31 art market participants were fined for failing to register with HMRC. Between spring and fall 2023, 32 fines were issued. Figures for 2024 have not been released but art market participants speak of an even greater intensity.  Penalties have been up to £13,000 so far and limited to registration failings. But all art anti-money laundering experts POLITICO spoke to expect that HMRC would begin fining galleries for money laundering faults imminently — a more serious charge.  Even though some clients may have nothing to hide, the threat of increased oversight — which could result in a fine or an investigation — puts some off. “The money laundering regulations are the bane of my life. People who want to buy art want it instantly, they don’t want to wait 22 days to have all their details checked out,” said another gallery employee at Frieze.  Maria O’Sullivan, a lawyer who specializes in compliance in the art industry, described the particularities of the art market which make regulation difficult: “The art world is based on relationships, more than any other business that’s got anti-money laundering regulation,” she said. “The source of wealth is easier to establish than the source of funds. The source of wealth you can nearly always find online, for example, if your client is a major shareholder in a company. Asking about the source of funds is more personal. Galleries don’t want to ask for that information.”  The rules, which were brought in under the former Conservative government, threaten to further injure an already wounded art sector, which suffered increased taxes and red tape in the wake of Britain’s departure from the EU. “Between Brexit and these new money laundering regulations, the London market’s been hit pretty hard,” said the art AML expert. And as new Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares her first budget, which is set to increase taxes on the wealthy’s assets, art lovers fear it could be another nail in the coffin for London as a top destination for high-end art. THE REAL OWNER Across the Atlantic, the U.S. lacks regulation, despite art being well documented as a vehicle for money laundering. As new Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares her first budge, art lovers fear it could be another nail in the coffin for London as a top destination for high-end art. | Leon Neal/Getty Images “The art industry currently operates under a veil of secrecy allowing art advisers to represent both sellers and buyers masking the identities of both parties, and as we found, the source of the funds.  This creates an environment ripe for laundering money and evading sanctions,” said Tom Caper, a U.S. senator from Delaware, speaking in 2020 upon the release of a report, which found that the art market was “the largest legal, unregulated market in the United States.” It’s exactly that veil of secrecy that the U.K.’s rules seek to prevent. Beneficial ownership rules, which concern who will ultimately own a piece of art, include any companies or trusts that may be used to purchase it. It’s a key tenet of the U.K.’s anti-money laundering plan. For the U.K.’s Treasury, this isn’t a simple glance at an ID card. Conducting customer due diligence means “exhausting all possible means to verify the identity of the customer, or the ultimate beneficial owner,” it said in its risk assessment. “Criminals can conceal the ultimate beneficial owner of art, as well as the source of funds used to purchase art. This can be achieved by using complex layers of U.K. and offshore companies and trusts, agents or intermediaries, with agents and intermediaries commonly used in the market,” the department adds. While experts argue that the use of offshore trusts to purchase art is a thing of the past, that doesn’t mean gallery employees are willing to find out. “We’re not supposed to be detectives,” the first employee quoted above said. “We take the information from the individual at face value. We wouldn’t go to the authorities of a jurisdiction to check who the beneficial owner of a trust is, for example.” Another argued it is “misguided” to require small businesses to perform due diligence that the financial services industry should do. “The regulations put the onus on the galleries to jump through certain hoops. I think it’s like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Banks are subject to money laundering checks, so due diligence is already performed,” they said. Wilson, meanwhile, defended the purpose of the regulations in trying to target dodgy dealings. But the British Art Market Federation chairman also questioned what he sees as a failure to distinguish between low- and high-risk transactions. He pointed out, for example, that a painting sold by a seaside gallery for £11,000 is viewed in the same way as a multimillion-dollar transaction in an auction. As a result, gallerists approach the rules with a “tick box” mentality, he warned. “What’s dangerous is that everyone who ticks those boxes believes they’ve eliminated the money laundering risk.”

Ukraine reacted with fury over a decision by the world’s anti-money laundering watchdog to keep Russia off its “blacklist.” Kyiv, which has long campaigned for Russia to be on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) register for the worst economic crime offenders, said it is “disappointing” that several countries rejected its inclusion on the list in an October vote. “Russia has displayed both the capacity and intent to engage in activities harmful to FATF member states and the FATF’s mission,” said Vladyslav Vlasiuk, adviser to the Office of the President of Ukraine and presidential commissioner for sanctions policy. FATF sets the global standards for anti-money laundering and terrorist financing. Blacklisting requires financial institutions that do business with such countries to conduct far greater due diligence on the original sender and beneficiary of any payment that involves the state. The anti-money laundering body’s blacklist currently comprises of Iran, Myanmar and North Korea, while there are 24 countries on the “gray list” — which refers to states under increased monitoring for financial crime issues —including Algeria, Kenya and Syria. Russia was suspended by FATF last year, which released a statement condemning its invasion of Ukraine, but Kyiv has pushed since April 2022 for the country to be on the blacklist. However, a vote among FATF members on Oct. 25 failed, with countries including China, India, Saudi Arabia and South Africa, voting against the motion, according to a report in Reuters. “FATF member states again failed to recognize the threat that Russia poses to global security and the global financial system, demonstrated by its malicious cyberattacks, economic warfare and destabilizing activities worldwide and in FATF member states,” said Vlasiuk. His government also released a statement lamenting the lack of consensus by member countries.  Ukraine’s supporters say it’s proof that the body is “fractured” and unable to react to global crises. “Like all multilateral organizations in this day and age, the FATF is fractured in matters of geopolitics,” said Tom Keatinge, the director of the center for finance and security at the Royal United Services Institute. “If international bodies like the U.N. and the FATF won’t take action then the U.S., EU and other countries that reject the sort of illegal action taken by Russia will need to press much harder with sanctions. It’s time to take the gloves off,” Keatinge added. Nicki Kenyon, a former senior intelligence officer at the United States Treasury Department who currently works at the Institute for Financial Integrity in Washington, D.C. also questioned Russia’s exclusion from the list. “FATF’s mission is to protect the global financial system. And there is an enormous amount of evidence that Russia is actually undermining those efforts, and undermining the integrity of the global financial system,” she said. FATF did not respond to a request for comment.

BRUSSELS — Italy, Germany and the Netherlands are on the short list for an EU top job running the bloc’s new anti-money laundering body, according to multiple officials. Italy’s Bruna Szego, Germany’s Marcus Pleyer, and Jan Reinder De Carpentier of the Netherlands are the remaining three candidates in the race, the officials, who were granted anonymity to speak candidly about the race, told POLITICO. The Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) will supervise cross-border finance companies that are at high risk of money laundering and terrorism financing, and will have the power to issue millions of euros in fines. The AMLA office will open in Frankfurt in early 2025, and will be fully functional by 2028. The chair position is for four years but can be extended once. It pays over €250,000 per year, tax-free. All three candidates were interviewed, along with an unknown fourth candidate who was later cut, by the EU’s financial services chief Mairead McGuinness. The three top picks will now attend closed-door interviews organized by the European Parliament, before a final public interview with the top-ranked candidate. The hearings are only expected to take place after lawmakers grill the candidates for EU commissioner jobs, meaning they will begin in mid-November at the earliest, officials told POLITICO. Once a candidate is chosen, the European Commission will present its top choice to EU member countries, which have to approve the decision. All three candidates were interviewed, along with an unknown fourth candidate who was later cut, by the EU’s financial services chief Mairead McGuinness. | John Thys/Getty Images Szego works at Italy’s central bank, where she has been leading anti-money laundering efforts over the last few years. De Carpentier is vice chair at the EU bank resolution body the Single Resolution Board, and previously ran anti-money laundering efforts at the Dutch central bank. Pleyer ran the global anti-money laundering body, the Financial Action Task Force, from 2020-2022, and hails from Germany’s Finance Ministry. Pleyer’s candidacy in particular is unlikely to be popular with other EU countries after Germany was the surprise winner of the race to host the headquarters of the authority earlier this year. Other countries, including France, Spain and Ireland, also bid to host the authority and were not successful. Gregorio Sorgi contributed to this report.