Most wanted

I’m not allowed to watch “Crimewatch”; my husband says that what with the money laundering and the magistracy and the financial crime fiction, I’m too obsessed with crime as it is.  He has a point.  But when he’s away, I sneak in a quick episode, and I’m delighted to see that they still feature the ten most wanted criminals.  And this started me thinking about whether wanted lists should be consulted more often.

For instance, there are (as I check it today) 493 wanted people featuring on the Crimestoppers list in the UK.  If you want to narrow down to the money launderers (suspected and convicted), select “Fraud & forgery” in the Crime Type box; this gets you down to only twenty rapscallions, of whom three have money laundering as their headline offence.  Picking one at random (he may not be there when you check – fingers crossed he’s been caught), the website provides some good information: Jeffrey Gordon is wanted by the City of London Police in connection with boiler room frauds; an American with connections to Romania, he also uses the names Jeffrey Goodman and Michael Goodman.  His age, size and colour are given, along with the fact that he has a swirly tattoo on his left arm.  Now wouldn’t it be handy to circulate that information to your staff?

Looking further afield, the FBI in the US kindly lists for us their most wanted white collar criminals.  Accountant James Hammes, for instance, is wanted for fraud and money laundering, having bilked his employer of US$8.7 million.  An avid scuba diver and licensed pilot (multiple getaway routes…), he is known to like travelling to the Caribbean.  (Is it just me, or does this sound like a listing on a dating website?)  MLROs in the Caribbean in particular might want to consider circulating his details.

And finally, the UK’s National Crime Agency has its own selection of “Most Wanted”.  In top spot as I look at it today is money launderer Robert Dimmock, wanted for failing to pay a penny of the £4,929,334 confiscation order made against him in 2008.  He’s also known as “SAS Bob”, which I do not find at all comforting.  For MLROs looking for training material or newsletter updates, a regular reminder about people like Gordon, Hammes and Dimmock would fit the bill.