Global environmental crime is a lucrative enterprise, generating billions of dollars annually, with the U.S. financial system playing a role in concealing these profits.

According to Interpol, activities such as poaching and illegal logging yield up to $281 billion annually, ranking as the third most profitable illegal business globally.

The complexity of these illicit industries varies, ranging from small networks involved in wildlife trafficking to large-scale operations like illegal logging and gold mining, which often intersect with other criminal activities like drug trafficking and terrorism.

Money laundering, facilitated through shell companies and cross-border transactions, is a key mechanism in these criminal enterprises, allowing perpetrators to obfuscate the origins of their illicit gains, The Hill reported.

Weaknesses in the U.S. anti-money laundering infrastructure contribute to this problem, with lax company registration requirements enabling the creation of shell companies to launder proceeds.

While agencies like the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) are tasked with tracking financial flows, resource constraints limit their ability to combat environmental crimes effectively.

Efforts to enhance transparency, such as implementing registries of beneficial owners of companies, are steps in the right direction but may not fully address the issue.

Written by B.C. Begley