Criminal Proceeds Amounted To Over $2 Trillion In 2009: UN Report

Criminals are making out like bandits with a sizable chunk of the world's economy.

Criminal proceeds amounted to 3.6 percent of global gross domestic product in 2009, according to a recent UN report -- a sum totaling more than $2 trillion. More than 2.5 percent of global GDP was likely laundered through the financial system, the report finds.

Crime proceeds are higher in developing countries as measured by a proportion of gross domestic product, the report found. And despite efforts worldwide to counter money laundering, authorities are coming up short; less than 1 percent of money laundered through the financial system is ever seized and frozen.

The report's findings indicate that "dirty money" can have economic consequences for the countries it flows through, Yury Fedotov the executive director of the UN's Office of Drug and Crime said in the report.

"In some cases, the influx of tainted money undermines the reputations of local institutions," Fedotov said. "Significantly, these investments can hamper investment and economic growth."

World leaders including David Luna, the U.S.'s director for Anticrime Programs met earlier this week in Phuket, Thailand earlier this week to find ways for various agencies to cooperate in fighting corruption and illicit trade.

"Increasingly sophisticated and organized webs of crime and corruption fuel greater insecurity, instability, and subversion across our economies, threaten our communities, and imperil the health and safety of our people," Luna said at the conference.

One example of this interagency cooperation is a bi-national study from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in cooperation with Mexico, which investigated the way cash from drug cartels is transported and delivered. The study estimates that anywhere between $19 and $29 billion travels from the U.S. to Mexico to fund drug cartels.

Other countries are also becoming increasingly aggressive in fighting money laundering and corruption. Officials in Singapore announced Thursday that they will mull tighter penalties and up enforcement against money launderers, according to Bloomberg. The U.S. State Department criticized Singapore in a report in March saying the country was vulnerable to money laundering.

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Comments

[Patrick Shaw]

02:03 PM on 10/31/2011

'World leaders including David Luna, the U.S.'s director for Anticrime Programs met earlier this week in Phuket, Thailand earlier this week to find ways for various agencies to cooperate in fighting corruption and illicit trade.'

Really...Phuket Thailand ? A conference & meetings in Phuket Thailand ?

Mr. Luna...when you and your colleagues stop meeting in modern day Babylon to discuss how to stop this epidemic of 'sin' and how to bring the 'sinners' to justice perhaps then the rest of us will believe you are serious...for now the criminals certainly do not believe.

[humanbeing-rick]

01:03 PM on 10/31/2011

The prohibitions create the "black markets", the nanny laws that outlaw free choice creates it's own problem. However, these proceeds are a small fraction of the criminal proceeds the banksters and white-collar criminals get away with every day.

[BBackSoon]

02:13 PM on 10/31/2011

Did you see the article that showed the top corporations in the world. In the top 20 most were Banks, Financial Institutions or Insurance Companies.

That is, companies that simply skim off the top.

As always 1% of a Trillion is still a hell of a lot of money.

[nothingchanges]

06:58 PM on 10/29/2011

And that's without even taking into consideration the TRILLIONS of dollars that have been taken from average Americans by Corporations, and the rich and powerful, that Congress made LEGAL, presumably in exchange for campaign contributions.

That's where the real crime took place.

Our representative form of government was bought out from under us, congress now has more in common with eBay, then with governing.

Capitalism in it's extreme, where Congress people are in business for themselves, looking out for what is most profitable..............................for THEM.

[jsgaetano]

03:42 PM on 10/29/2011

And now we know why conservatives refuse to legalize drugs. It's just like how the mafia supported prohibition.

[theindex]

02:40 PM on 10/29/2011

That is a trivial amount compared to the racket perpetrated by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Mortgage Companies, and U.S. Banks. If you're going to fight financial crimes start at the top, abolish the Federal Reserve.

[Dogs And Cats]

12:58 PM on 10/29/2011

What about sweet deals between organized crime, subcontractors, and the so-called security agencies? Are those in the tally? I doubt it. Indirectly, it cost taxpayers to send "observers" to events such as OWS. They're there to cause trouble and then blame it on the movement. In 2009, similar observers could be found at soup lines in the U.S., looking for union activity, and even at music festivals. What a waste of government money.

[MiddletownHal]

07:23 AM on 10/29/2011

Are international banks and oil companies included in this survey of dirty money, thieves and money laundering?

[yarrumd1]

02:43 AM on 10/29/2011

"When the the state is most corrupt, then the laws are most multiplied." Tacitus

[yoyodyne666]

02:11 AM on 10/29/2011

Exactly how do you pronounce "Phuket, Thailand" ...... I thought so.

[yoyodyne666]

02:09 AM on 10/29/2011

That's all, I think they need to take a better look at their numbers 4% looks a tad light.

[skraeling]

12:50 AM on 10/29/2011

We can stop fraud and corruption in our public welfare programs by excluding Russians, Armenians, and Israelis from our social and medicare safety nets for at least 5 years steady and proven residency in the US....that is a fact.

[fishin4u]

12:43 AM on 10/29/2011

This justifies the argument for a "flat tax" or if you prefer a "consumption tax".
Then the pimps, heroin , meth and ecstasy dealers pay for their unreported incomes.

FISH..........

[Mochilero]

12:42 AM on 10/29/2011

Are Hallibuton, KBR and XE included in these statistics?

[JiannaR]

12:33 AM on 10/29/2011

Depends on your definition of criminal. I'd say it's a lot more than that.

[NoPerry2012]

12:25 AM on 10/29/2011

Politicians, bankers, and hedge fund managers alike are together amassing more than 4% of the GDP. If this was news to you, I'm sorry. You can go back under your rock for another 30 years now.