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We concur. In fact, illicit finance and kleptocracy are such pervasive threats that in addition to undermining democracy, they corrode the rule of law, fuel impunity, imperil effective implementation of national sustainability and economic development strategies, contribute to human rights abuses, and enflame violent conflicts.

These threats become magnified when they are advanced by authoritarian states to finance greater insecurity and instability around the world, and in a manner that harms the national security of the United States and other democracies.

In recent decades the convergence of transnational criminal structures and illicit economies have grown to create a clear and present danger to U.S national security interests by siphoning trillions of dollars from legal economies. These funds fuel growing corruption, instability and violence while destabilizing markets in the Americas, and around the world. Criminal actors and threat networks connected through global super fixers exploit advances in technology, transportation and other critical infrastructure for illicit enrichment. In these dangerous times, converging illicit vectors erode our collective governance, prosperity, and security.

Illicit trade, trafficking, and smuggling of counterfeit goods, narcotics, humans, natural resources, WMD, and other contraband impact the security of all societies. Kleptocrats, criminal organizations, terrorist groups, and their enablers exploit networked hubs of illicit trade centered on free trade zones, ports, and other logistical channels of transportation, communications, and trade. This allows the criminal groups profit from an array of illicit activities and corrupt institutions, drain resources for economic development, and compromise the integrity of supply chains. No country is immune from these insidious gaps in the globalized world.

The news last week of money laundering charges against crypto exchange Binance and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, sent shockwaves through both financial markets and crypto consumers alike. And understandably so. Before Binance’s settlement with US authorities, the company represented 60% of the market for crypto spot trading. And Zhao himself, as the Wall Street Journal noted, was the so-called “king” of crypto.

No more. With US authorities slapping more than $4 billion in penalties against the company, Binance risks becoming a shell of its former self. And Zhao joins a roster of once-feted crypto chiefs who have since fallen from grace.

The U.S. Treasury Department will soon propose a rule that would effectively end anonymous luxury-home purchases, closing a loophole that the agency says allows corrupt oligarchs, terrorists and other criminals to hide ill-gotten gains.

The long-awaited rule is expected to require that real estate professionals such as title insurers report the identities of the beneficial owners of companies buying real estate in cash to the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

While the Corporate Transparency Act is currently in legal limbo, finance leaders and compliance officers should determine if they are subject to it and prepare to comply by filing the necessary documents, experts say.

Passed in 2021, the law was designed to prevent bad actors from using legal entities to shield their identities and assets by requiring companies subject to it to report some basic information about the entity’s ownership to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Treasury division that’s administering the requirements. While it applies mainly to companies that have fewer than 20 employees and annual revenues of $5 million or less, large companies might not be off the hook if they have U.S.-based subsidiaries that are considered independent entities, according to Industry Dive sister publication Legal Dive.

But the global fight against this financial secrecy has also been growing. A keystone of the battle has been increasing transparency about the people who ultimately own or control companies and other entities, referred to as “beneficial owners.” The last decade has seen notable progress: Over 80 countries now maintain beneficial ownership registers, collecting data that was once obscure and making it more accessible and transparent.

In an effort to enhance corporate transparency and combat financial crimes, the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) was signed into law, signaling a new era for businesses in the United States. The act went into effect on January 1st, 2024. This new legislation will dramatically change the business compliance landscape—affecting reporting requirements for corporations, LLCs, and other small business entities in the United States. The law aims to mitigate the risk of a number of financial crimes but is primarily designed to reduce the number of lawbreakers involved in money laundering and criminal financial shell companies.

ML = Money Laundering, AML = Anti Money Laundering, SDI = Sustainable Development Indicator

From the policy and practical perspective, this study offers some insights for policymakers seeking to improve and implement anti-money laundering regulations in business practices, and for the economy as a whole. The findings of this paper reinforce that AML regulation is favorable towards the achievement of sustainable development in least developed nations. Therefore, to combat and control the level of money laundering, developing nations must set up and enforce AML framework. AML regulation fosters the effectiveness of institutions and financial development towards sustainable development. It also guarantees financial transparency, standards and promotes public accountability. AML regulations strengthen the legal system and reduce the level of corruption common to most developing countries. Second, the study reveals that AML regulation stimulates sustainable development for developing countries. On this note, it becomes appropriate for policymakers to effectively implement the AML regulations and ensure compliance. Financial regulators and authorities should ensure that the AML framework is entrenched in their supervisory roles, and is cost-effective.

ML = Money Laundering, AML = Anti Money Laundering, SDI = Sustainable Development Indicator

Table 4 presents the results of the Driscoll-Kraay, Prais-Winsten estimate difference GMM (D-GMM) and IV-GMM estimators. The coefficients show that AML regulations promote sustainable development in developing countries. A 1% increase in AML improves SDI by 12%. The D-GMM results also show there is a 5% increase in SDI for one unit improvement in anti-money laundering regulations. These results are consistent with the related studies that show that AML regulation promotes economic growth and encourages inflow of foreign investors because it increases investors' confidence in an economy (Ofoeda, Agbloyor, & Abor, 2022a; Ofoeda, Agbloyor, & Abor, 2022b; Ofoeda, Agbloyor, & Abor, 2022d; Ofoeda, Agbloyor, Abor, & Achampong, 2022). Anti-money laundering activities ensure quality of life and improve overall wellbeing. The impact of AML regulations is very crucial in restating confidence and trust in the financial market system and sustaining the economy in general. Studies prove beyond doubt that better regulations should grow the economic system for sustainability (Djankov et al., 2006). An effective AML regulation is expected to improve economic, social and environmental sustainability in developing countries. The results of this study also support the view of Porta et al. (1998), who state that legal systems and effective regulations would discourage asymmetric information and motivate transparent transactions, thereby fostering customer confidence and trust for sustainable growth and development.

Let me emphasize that despite many successes, the global ecosystem of criminality and corruption has expanded greatly today compared to even a decade ago, fueled by criminal opportunists and profit driven-illicit entrepreneurial networks working feverishly to exploit a multitude of new, lucrative criminal economies, including synthetic drugs, contraband pharmaceuticals, and the illegal mining of gold and strategic minerals.

Illicit actors have evolved and diversified across new security landscapes, including by leveraging greater vulnerabilities across the digital world, online marketplaces, dark spaces of the Internet and alliances with deeply criminalized states.

//DH

There are a number of reasons that would explain this. First, global money laundering efforts have historically and understandably been focused on laundering in the $400 trillion-plus financial services sector, where money laundering risks have been long recognized.8 Second, the e-commerce market, as noted above, has grown very quickly and is highly dispersed with more than 24 million e-commerce sites on the internet — and establishing an e-commerce site is decidedly easier than establishing a financial institution.

Among the cyber-security industry, many consider Russia to be the most capable and stealthiest of America’s cyber adversaries. In addition to the notable intrusions mentioned earlier, suspected Russian adversary groups have earned their reputation for several reasons, including developing sophisticated malware that employed novel command and control techniques, exhibiting rapid breakout times, and leading the way in targeting cloud infrastructure.36

Cyber attacks crippling the food industry are not unprecedented. For example, suspected criminals successfully compromised the network of JBS S.A., a global meat processing company, hampering livestock slaughter operations and causing wholesale meat prices to spike.37 Should the Kremlin set its sights on disrupting the U.S. wheat industry via cyber means, a likely approach would be targeting the infrastructure used for grain transport and storage, specifically the grain storage elevators throughout wheat production regions. These facilities comprise an essential component of the Nation’s food system, which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has identified as 1 of the 16 sectors of critical infrastructure.38 Farming cooperatives operating grain elevators increasingly leverage automation technologies to handle loading and unloading functions. If an adversary gained remote access to the industrial control system (ICS) network environment, they could shut down operations, preventing grain transportation to trade markets and food processors.

Malware and ransomware attacks from criminal groups involve malicious software that infiltrates computer systems, compromising data integrity and disrupting operations. These attacks can have severe consequences in the food and agriculture sector. For example, malware could infect control systems, leading to the compromise of critical infrastructure such as irrigation systems or food processing plants. Ransomware attacks can encrypt vital data, making it inaccessible until a ransom is paid. Notable examples include the NotPetya attack on the Danish shipping company Maersk in 2017, which disrupted global supply chains; and the LockerGoga ransomware attack on Norsk Hydro in 2019, one of the world's largest aluminum manufacturers. More recently, ransomware attacks against JBS (2021), Hood Dairy (2022), and Dole (2023) highlight the growing interest these criminal groups have with large companies in the sector.

Social engineering and phishing techniques exploit human vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access to systems or obtain sensitive information. Typically, employees are targeted through fraudulent emails or phone calls, tricking them into divulging credentials or downloading malicious software. Other methods include distributing infected USB thumb drives at trade shows, or using a QR code to point to a website that hosts malicious software. Attackers can impersonate suppliers, regulators, or colleagues to gain trust and manipulate victims. These attacks can result in unauthorized access to critical systems or the theft of sensitive data. A notable instance is the 2019 phishing attack on the UK's Food Standards Agency, where employees were targeted with fake emails requesting login credentials.

//DH

Cyber threats to food and agriculture are expanding due to the emergence of “smart” farming devices that optimize production capabilities. Farmers can harvest better yields with lower production costs thanks to crop and soil monitoring sensors, autonomous vehicles, and data analytic tools. As a 2018 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report observed, this transformation “took highly mechanical labor-intensive industry and connected it online, dramatically increasing the attack space available to threat actors.”

The use of pesticides increased many fold over the past few decade. It is estimated that about 5.2 billion pound of pesticides are used worldwide annually (Dutta and Bortamuly, 2018). Majority of pesticide are not particularly targeting the pest. The widespread use of pesticides not only brought adverse influence on agro ecosystems but also caused alteration in physiological processes of non-target organisms (Verma and Prakash, 2018). It has been assessed that only about 0.1% pesticide stretch out the target entity and remaining are taint with the surrounding environment (Dutta and Bortamuly, 2018). Poisoning risks depend on dose, toxicity, duration of exposure and sensitivity (Prakash, 2020).

These pesticides through surface runoff reach into the aquatic ecosystems and become a global environmental problem. The presence of pesticides in the aquatic system can obviously lead to multi- fold interaction with other forms of pollution because these pesticides enter into the food chain and their subsequent bioaccumulation and biotransformation at different trophic levels have catastrophic effect to the ecosystem (Prakash and Verma, 2014; Sandeep, 2021).

Volume 7, March 2024, //DH

Agricultural crop production and its management is a challenging task due to variations in environmental factors, soil factors, and water quality-related parameters worldwide. Due to the increasing population and changing environmental scenario day by day, high agricultural production per unit hectare is required globally ([8]; [22]). The phenomenon of climate change is a result of the environmental stress caused by an expanding population and numerous industries, especially agriculture. Several human acts lead to land deterioration, affecting crop quality, chemical pollution causes dead zone conditions and endangers marine life. Thus, the use of the smart application in agriculture may be crucial in offering viable solutions to significant problems like disease and pest infestations, insufficient biological application, incorrect water application and elimination, weed management, and yield forecasting ([7]; [29]; [70]).

Recently, new qualitative and quantitative work has shown the connection between food insecurity and instability or conflict. Whether conflict erupts over food sources; because individuals have lost their livelihoods and look to profit or simply find food by joining a military group; or because economic mismanagement or corruption pushed food prices out of reach for some citizens, there are several ways food insecurity can spur instability and/or conflict. A World Food Program study found that “approximately 95% of peer-reviewed studies examined” in the report “were able to establish an empirical link between food insecurity and instability.”37

Footnote 37

While cyber-attacks are a challenge across many industries, agribusinesses are particularly vulnerable due to lack of preparedness to address these threats. Cyber-attacks can severely disrupt agricultural operations, leading to issues of the integrity of food supply chains, as well as severe economic losses. Several factors contribute to the heightened risk of cyber-attacks in agribusinesses.

Hackers and cyber attackers are targeting agribusinesses due to the value and wealth the sector holds. The nature and abundance of agricultural data, including information ranging from crop cultivation and harvest schedules to financial records, makes agribusinesses targets for ransom demands. Advanced farming techniques like precision farming have led to an increase in the volume of data at risk, further broadening the sector's vulnerability to breaches. Precision farming employs modern advancements like sensors, drones, and data analysis software to enhance resource productivity and farm management decisions. The vast data collected by these technologies has led to growing concerns regarding the privacy of farmers’ information (Kaur et al. 2022).

As the global population has expanded over time, agricultural modernisation has been humanity’s prevailing approach to staving off famine.

A variety of mechanical and chemical innovations delivered during the 1950s and 1960s represented the third agricultural revolution. The adoption of pesticides, fertilisers and high-yield crop breeds, among other measures, transformed agriculture and ensured a secure food supply for many millions of people over several decades.

the University of Maryland Carey School of Law “Debugging the Trademark Laws: The Lanham Act and Counterfeit

Microelectronics,” 31 TEX. INTELL. PROP. L.J. 211 (2023). Hein Online. Accessed via University of Michigan //DH