Hurdling the sovereign wall: How governments can recover the proceeds of crimes that cross national boundaries
Abstract
Purpose
The globalization of crime has made it possible for international money launderers, kleptocrats and fraudsters to commit crimes in one jurisdiction while remaining safe in another and hiding their assets in a third. At the same time, law enforcement officials remain constrained by the rules of national sovereignty that inhibit their ability to recover assets located beyond the territorial jurisdiction of their courts. Three recent cases, however, illustrate that governments have begun to find ways to hurdle the walls that have traditionally made the recovery of assets in other countries so difficult. This paper aims to sketch the facts of those cases, the legal issues presented and the ways in which the obstacles presented by the walls of sovereignty were overcome.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is the study of three recent cases.
Findings
The cases illustrate how obstacles presented by national sovereignty have been overcome.
Originality/value
The cases will serve as a guide to future international cooperation.
Keywords
Citation
Cassella, S. (2019), "Hurdling the sovereign wall: How governments can recover the proceeds of crimes that cross national boundaries", Journal of Money Laundering Control, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 5-13. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMLC-09-2017-0046
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited