> The point of all the AML/KYC stuff isn't to prevent money laundering, but to replace a difficult-to-prosecute crime (money laundering) with an easy-to-prosecu

> The point of all the AML/KYC stuff isn't to prevent money laundering, but to replace a difficult-to-prosecute crime (money laundering) with an easy-to-prosecute crime (lying on bank forms). Absolute nonsense. There was a time when like half of all Russian mafia lived in London fully in the open, and they only vacated the place when they started being kicked out through visa cancellations, not fraud charges. This change changes really nothing in the fact that first world country governments don't want to prosecute those guys. At most, they don't give a fuck, at worst, they are actively conniving. And it's not that they are hard to prosecute at all. Anybody who can read some Russian can get a completely damning charge sheet with a few minutes googling on most of them, let alone British MI-6 analysts. The crazy theory that you can somehow increase prosecution chances with "Al Capon charge" makes little sense if criminals whose offences are provable in 5 minutes without that are walking around. like nothing. There are many accounts in the press of banks employees saying they send hundreds of suspicious activity reports for absolutely clear cut cases without any reaction. And they can't do anything on their own, as their paperwork is completely impeccable from the reporting standpoint. Thinking rationally, it makes sense that a mafioso who is going to launder few billion $, will ensure that his paperwork looks more full, and accurate than that of a legit company. Few percents of such sums will hire legions of top lawyers to do the reporting.