Time to 'slow think' about Bitcoin?

Bitcoin Futures Could Trigger a Lehman-Style Collapse, Billionaire Warns

Bitcoin prices soared to a new high last week on the news there will be a futures market for the currency starting on Dec. 10. But not everyone is optimistic.

According to billionaire Thomas Peterffy, CEO of the brokerage giant Interactive Brokers (ibkr, +1.43%), there’s a small but very real possibility that a futures market for the volatile crypto-currency will cause the financial system to buckle and trigger a crisis similar to 2008.

Peterffy told Fortune he’s relayed his concerns, which he described in a full-page letter in the Wall Street Journal, to the head of the country’s commodities regulator, but was told the agency can’t do anything to slow down the launch of the new bitcoin products.

See more at:
http://fortune.com/2017/12/04/bitcoin-futures/

New research release: Human Trafficking

Part of the Critical Concepts in Criminology series from Routledge.

Human Trafficking will be particularly useful as a database allowing scattered and often fugitive material to be easily located. It will also be welcomed as a crucial tool permitting rapid access to less familiar—and sometimes overlooked—texts. For scholars, students, and policy-makers, it is an essential one-stop research and pedagogic resource.

https://www.routledge.com/Human-Trafficking/Bean/p/book/9781138962163

Australian Corruption Perceptions Index Results: A hiatus on the way down or the turning point?

Global anti-corruption movement, Transparency International (TI), launched the 2016 global corruption perceptions index (CPI) results around Australia Tuesday night.

In Brisbane, Professor AJ Brown, Griffith University’s Professor of Public Policy and Law and board member of Transparency International Australia (TIA), presented the results explaining what it means for Australia.

Brown points out that the CPI results are not based on one survey or TI opinion but rely on 13 different data sources producing rankings and significant absolute scores. 

Australia’s 2016 result? Actually exactly the same as 2015, ranking of 13^th out of 176 countries and a score of 79 out of 100. It is noted that Australia has previously ranked in the top ten scoring a high of 85 in 2012.

Brown, explained that 2015’s result was a “definite confirmation of a slide” adding that the big question about the 2016 result is whether “this is where we are going to stay, just a brief hiatus on the way down or can this be a turning point back to where we would like Australia to be?”

Positive developments and opportunities for Australia, according to Brown, include the open government partnership program, increased commitment to whistleblowing legislation and introduction of new federal parliamentary standards.

The “bad news” include the lack of foreign bribery convictions with continued suppression, federal and state donation and entitlement issues along with corruption scandals in both government and the private sectors.

Globally, positive aspects include the recent London corruption summit and Brazil’s anti-corruption drive, however the negative list is longer including the refugee crisis following Brexit and the rejection by voters of the status quo instead favouring outsiders such as Trump in the US and Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines.  

Though the “developed world looks a little less stable”, Brown appears optimistic for Australia given recent developments in the political sphere.

Global 2016 TI Index Results

2016 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse

2016 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse

Now available for Asia Pacific Region

See:http://www.acfe.com/regional-reports/

Think you're too educated to become a fraud victim?

Financial literacy is not always in keeping with a person's education level and no matter how clever, experienced or sophisticated we are, or think we are, we are all vulnerable to becoming a victim of fraud.  Fraudsters will still target you regardless of your IQ.

Read more at:

http://www.acfe.com/fraud-examiner.aspx?id=4294994668&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWkRNeE56QTRZelpsTkRkbCIsInQiOiJFUUsra3pEd2w2UUVTXC91RUtib1VHODgwalBzQ1lHS1BjT3Q2ZUhOblc4eG1TdjhSajNSWDJoUHEzMnRraTdvRFdwRnQ0ZkpIeUFiNlUrS1RCOTM4ZWN3aVFVRWFRSHJjcllVZ2xnbERHNzQ9In0%3D 

Wells Fargo, Volkswagon, Corporate Culture and Fraud

Volkswagen, sold 11 million allegedly less-polluting diesel vehicles worldwide equipped with hidden software to override pollution controls because of the pressure to make their vehicles 30% more efficient that their competitors....even though this wasn't technically possible.

Wells Fargo, widely known for its aggressive cross-selling of products has claimed the 5,300 perpetrators were “underperformers,” even though these employees were scattered across the organization and not connected thus a clear indicator of corporate culture at work. Meanwhile, on Reddit, former Wells Fargo employees batted around tales in great detail of the sales pressure they endured.

For more see http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidschrieberg1/2016/09/16/how-does-corporate-culture-fuel-fraud-start-with-volkswagen-and-wells-fargo/#34cf67052d64


And to appreciate the enormity of the Wells Fargo issue, see Senator Elizabeth Warren questioning Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf at the Banking Committee Hearing  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJhkX74D10M

Transaction laundering hides in plain sight with all three stages of money laundering (placement, layering and integration) one step removed

.....transaction laundering — a form of money laundering .......sometimes also known as "factoring," transaction laundering occurs when legitimate merchants process payments for illicit purposes on behalf of another party....

FinCEN recently singled out transaction laundering as a variation on the standard themes of money laundering. But what's remarkable about transaction laundering is the sheer "hiding in plain sight" nature of this gambit.

Criminals and their associates understand the industry and know the types of businesses that are likely to evade enhanced front-end due diligence.

Read more at http://www.fraud-magazine.com/article.aspx?id=4294994349&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWldaa01tUmlPV1k0TlRNMyIsInQiOiJGVkxueDd4Y0t0T2VNMldzUnlFTkk1MTJcL1lJZEVVWlRCVFRhK1RZXC9aamJJN2RTS1dkZUFDWlNnNmx4Y3JYcTJTU0haZms3Y0hnaXF6SVh5SjZ5TnFlMDMzV20zSDdIQ2ZwN1FUUVNpNk8xXC9mN3grM2xqUk00Sk5aam01YjlyaCJ9