August 18, 2026
cocaine smuggling bananas

Evil Bananas: How Organized Crime Feeds Europe’s Drug Habit via Cocaine Smuggling

Ecuador: Squeezed into Fruit-based Cocaine Smuggling Fruit, especially bananas, is notoriously perishable. They require refrigeration for the long journey from the ports of Ecuador, Peru, or Colombia to destinations in Europe or the Americas. It turns out that cocaine smuggling also does well in refrigerated containers. In 2025, for example, authorities at Portsmouth harbour in […]

Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) for cash

Top 5 Things Law Enforcement Wants in SAR Reports

One might never read about a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) in the news. Instead, you might hear about a successful insurance businessman who turned out to be mis-reporting his company’s financials while funneling money through shell corporations to fund his lifestyle. Reading about Chinese money laundering networks moving Mexican cartel money, you might wonder, along […]

AML Intelligence Lifecycle

The 5 Step AML Intelligence Cycle

Anti-money laundering (AML) professionals are often heard to lament filing piles of Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR) that go into a proverbial black hole, never to be seen or heard from again. I may have lent my voice to that chorus over the years as well. A SAR is the result of an AML investigation where […]

Operator vs. Analyst

Top 5 Differences Between Fraud Investigators and Anti-Money Laundering Analysts

In the world of anti-financial crime professions, there are a few major disciplines that stand out and tend to define a career. One of these is anti-fraud. In recent years, fraud has become more well-known to the public. Any type of misrepresentation, lying, scheming, scamming or stealing credentials and identities in order to gain money […]

Los Angeles Fashion District flooded with piles of cash.

What Are the Career Prospects for an Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Investigator?

An anti-money laundering (AML) investigator is a person who decides if financial activity is suspicious or not. Typically, AML investigators work in a top-level department at financial institutions like banks, fintech companies, money remitters, and casinos. These individuals must review customer records, open-source information, and transaction activity to make a well-supported analytical decision.  When activity […]