One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc

Seeing a worrying trend in the economics of money laundering literature where publications are coming out where authors have either severely misunderstood or are misrepresenting the policy variation they are exploiting It seems like editors don't know any better and aren't finding referees who do

I don’t know how many times I’ve watched this video. I don’t know how we’ve gotten to the point where men in full balaclavas can abduct daycare teachers while they’re watching children. But I do know that this isn’t sustainable. Abolish ICE. There is no way to reform this.

Watching Season 1 of the X-Files with my better half last night and realized that I'm the same age as Mitch Pileggi when he made his first appearance as Walter Skinner 💀

"Liechtenstein’s crackdown on Russia-linked trusts has begun to spill into the offshore wealth system, leaving service providers fearing unpaid fees and stranded assets in the British Virgin Islands, Bahamas and the Cayman Islands." www.ft.com/content/8828...

Looks like Jersey Gov has decided to diverge from AMLD6, despite years of saying they were going to follow the EU's approach. The consultation proposes a legit interest test that differs significantly from AMLD6, and follows the more restrictive approach by the Overseas Territories.

New OA article @europe-asia.bsky.social: The Incumbency Advantage and the Enabler Effect: How Londongrad Beat the UK AML Regime Drawing on £2bn of property data, we show that not a single incumbent kleptocrat (0/72!) lost their UK assets. with @jheathershaw.bsky.social T. Mayne & S. Tokubayev

This is pretty remarkable - Companies House's incorperation fee for those using its online service was £18 in 2011 Now it will be £100 Bad news for the UK's Doing Business Index, good news for its fight against illicit finance

*What One Mineral Reveals About the U.S.–China Trade War* China has banned the export of antimony to the U.S. But in a new post, I find that global supply chains - both legal and illegal - are finding ways to adjust. #polisky #econsky #lawsky #china mileskellerman.substack.com/p/what-one-m...

i had an opinion about the new tswift record after all www.patreon.com/posts/140377...

Are you interested in research on corruption/illicit finance/kleptocracy? We are hiring a Research Fellow at @acdatacollective.bsky.social: acdatacollective.org/wp-content/u... Please share in your networks, this could be a great gig.

Farm owners convicted of exploiting migrant workers continue to claim millions in subsidies. Our investigation traced dozens of EU payments to farms that have breached, are under investigation for, or have already been convicted of labour-related offences. @journalismfund.bsky.social

The European Commission has opened infringement procedures against Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Croatia, Poland, Slovakia and Sweden after the countries failed to provide comprehensive access to beneficial ownership information ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

New with the @postandcourier.bsky.social, @ajc.com and @istories.bsky.social... After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the US sanctioned Sergey Khotimskiy and the bank he co-founded, Sovcombank. He finalized the transfer of as much as $43 million in real estate to his ex-wife before the sanctions.

The 7th World Bank / @odi.global / IFS Public Finance Conference starts tomorrow, with keynotes from LSE's Tim Besley and Norwegian University of Life Sciences' Annette Alstadsaeter. 🖥️ Find out more and join the livestreams here: www.worldbank.org/en/events/20...

My post mortem of the US's Corporate Transparency Act datadarkly.substack.com/p/america-la...

Nick Kristof went to talk to some of the moms losing their beloved children to Trump’s aid cuts. We are paying storage on already existing food rather than release it to starving kids. “I loved my child so much” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/o...

I love London so much. So much. Did you know that London has the lowest level of ethnic violence of any city of comparable size in the world? Multiculturalism has in fact worked here. They just don’t want it to be true because we happen to have a Muslim mayor.

This one is for the kids www.instagram.com/reel/DOqNUC-...

🚨New working paper🚨 In this updated work with Annette Alstadsaeter, @bluebery-planterose.com , @gabrielzucman.bsky.social and @andokl.bsky.social , we use leaked data to chart the rise of offshore real estate in Dubai www.taxobservatory.eu//www-site/up...

I mean COME ON

Company that sells digital solutions for AML compliance writes a white paper that states that digital solutions for AML compliance are important imtf.com/download/whi...

Notably, the UK does the "higher taxes for immigrants" thing (they have a special tax that notionally pays for their healthcare from NHS, even though they also pay all the regular taxes that British citizens pay which fund the NHS), and the UK still has the same populist-nativist problem as the US

I'm kind of shocked that anyone is still proposing technocratic solutions to the "debate" over immigration. Even if this were a good idea (and it is not), Republican elites and media will never tell their base about it. You can't policy your way out of a propaganda problem!

I have given in and started a Substack to write about illicit finance, development and data In my first post, I explain why we should be careful about citing the $312 billion statistic on the size of Chinese money laundering datadarkly.substack.com/p/exactly-ho...

Anyone working on Nigeria know where I can find historical election results data (e.g. state senator, governor elections, all candidates with vote shares) going back as far as the 2000s?

"2025 is gonna be my year" Me in September:

People are melting down at a Tribune article about CHSD 230 considering adding Arabic to its language learning electives. I wasted time in the comments, which I normally avoid doing since it's useless and awful, but it led to possibly the funniest thing anybody's ever said to me about France.

Here's what the third day of elementary school looked like in Mount Pleasant, Washington DC.

Really important new study on the tax rate of billionaires from @gabrielzucman.bsky.social et al Upshot: The top 400 ultrabillionaires: 23.8% Avg Americans: 30.2% Yes, the superrich pay far less in taxes than the rest of us. www.nber.org/papers/w34170

Update: it got funny again

DC Grand Jury refuses to indict “sandwich man” with a felony www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/u...

🗣️ “The public have a right to know how much time MPs spend on second jobs, and how much they’re paid.” @stevejgoodrich.bsky.social warned @catneilan.bsky.social that MPs must be transparent about outside payments to distinguish real deals from disguised donations. observer.co.uk/news/politic...

Japan Post just announced they will no longer deliver mail to the United States, joining Germany, Austria, Denmark, Italy, France, and Sweden.

Why are 90% of op-eds scolding liberals for the way they talk about threats to democracy rather than scolding conservatives for threatening democracy

🔴 We’re hiring a Head of Data – last chance to apply before the deadline occrp.bamboohr.com/careers/45 The role blends technical expertise with strategic and managerial oversight. You will guide the team’s work across investigations, tooling, and technical infrastructure.

A mini review of the "We Can Dance" Festival in Zeebrugge, after a friend and I decided to go this past weekend Essentially 5-6 stages, each with different techno/house genres (choose your BPM!), plopped down in the sand

I suspect a lot of philanthropists think that more blogs move the needle on policy. This is almost certainly true to an extent, but I think a better explanation for $$$ going into ventures like this is that the tech-minded philanthopists just like reading this stuff

My friend Naomi passed away in May. This obit in the @thelancet.com captures the massive, positive mark she left on this planet, in a life cut far, far too short www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

How is anyone supposed to reasonably believe these people are law enforcement? They're masked, anyone can buy a CBP hat and a POLICE patch, and why would a real gov't agent wear insignia suggesting they're both federal border patrol AND state/local police? They're dressed like amateur carjackers.

NEW: Are migrants more likely to commit crimes than non-migrants? Here’s what the data does and doesn’t show. 1/8 @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/article/72b6...

While masked agents were violently attacking a delivery worker this morning, bystanders repeatedly asked to see their badge numbers but they refused. Bystander: You guys are ruining this country, you know that, right? Agent: Liberals already ruined it.

DC Union Station tonight. Unreal.

The White House posted an insane video of the police arresting the sandwich guy in a safe and wealthy neighborhood.

Pal if you can share the secret of how to control a group of 3yos that’ll make you more cash than any AI project

Stay salty DC 🔥

Trump has always hated the residents of Washington DC, in particular the day the 2020 election was called and we had the biggest impromptu street party ever, with people climbing up lightpoles and cracking open champagne bottles over the crowd, like it was VE-day in freakin WWII