Combatting Human Trafficking

January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month

📅 January 30, 2024

January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, and IRS-Criminal Investigations (CI) is partnering with other government agencies to highlight indicators and federal initiatives to combat this crime. According to CI Chief Jim Lee, the agency investigates an average of 20 human trafficking each year.

IRS-CI in June 2023 helped indict four individuals linked to a prostitution ring, XO Companions. Each defendant was charged with conspiring to transport women in interstate and foreign commerce with intent to prostitute them. The defendants recruited women in Russia and other Eastern European countries to travel to the United States to work as prostitutes for XO Companions. Once in the United States, XO Companions workers traveled throughout the country to meet with clients in major cities.
Sumalee Intarathong (aka Alice Spencer Warren) in April 2023 was sentenced to time served after her arrest in 2016 in Belgium, where she was incarcerated for her role in an international Thai sex trafficking organization until her extradition to the United States in 2021. Intarathong and other co-conspirators arranged for victims to travel from Thailand to the United States, forcing them to work in brothels. Each trafficked victim was “owned” by Intarathong and her co-conspirators until the victim could repay an exorbitant “bondage debt” of between $40,000 and $60,000.

Not all human trafficking results in sexual slavery and other forced labor. Russia’s war in Ukraine has exacerbated an already acute human-trafficking problem in the region. As desperate refugees flee continued Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure, organized trafficking organizations work to exploit their limited access to food, shelter, and other services by offering them fraudulent job opportunities and subsequently transporting them to foreign countries and forcing them into sex work. However, governments can also be active in human trafficking. The Kremlin has been removing Ukrainian children from hospitals and orphanages and trafficking them to Russia for “russification,” changing their names and their citizenships and forcing them to appear in propaganda videos.

Combating trafficking requires a strong coalition of local and global partners to share resources and information, better equip front-line workers, and track and respond to evolving trafficking trends, according to the US State Department.  By partnering with survivors, who can provide critical insights into methodologies and financial transactions, stakeholders can ensure policies, strategies, and programs are survivor-centered, trauma-informed, and sensitive to the especially acute threat faced by minorities and other underserved populations.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 exacerbated a human-trafficking crisis that has been present in the region since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Learn more in our Expert Insight Report: Human Trafficking Crisis After Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine in which we discuss the current situation, including:

The Targeting of Women and Girls.
Danger along Transportation Routes.
Ukrainian Children and Foreign Fighters.
Efforts to Address the Situation.
Headwinds in Reporting and Detection.
Human Trafficking Detection and Enforcement.

Download the Report

Recommended Blogs

Fake News vs. Real News – The Importance of Media in Due Diligence

May 6, 2024

We exist in an age when mass media outlets are criticized for bias and manipulation, and when foreign disinformation efforts further erode trust in traditional journalism. Confidence in media reports not just as a compliance tool, but also as reliable news sources is likely at near record lows as well. However, adverse media reports are a critical compliance tool that can serve as a springboard for more extensive due diligence research and can help identify potential indicators of sanctions evasion and other financial crimes.

Counterproliferation Finance Detection and Deterrence – What Can Financial Institutions Do?

April 23, 2024

The U.S. Treasury recently identified proliferation networks operating on behalf of Russia, North Korea, China, Iran, Syria, and Pakistan as threats to U.S. national security. These networks exploited the U.S. financial system to finance the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), including financing to procure WMD components and raising revenues to support efforts by these state actors to advance their WMD activities.

2024 National Proliferation Financing Risk Assessment

April 19, 2024

The U.S. Department of the Treasury published the 2024 National Proliferation Financing Risk Assessment in February 2024 providing an in-depth analysis of the threats and vulnerabilities related to proliferation financing (PF) and highlighting key countries and non-state actors working to gain access to weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and their components and to conventional restricted weapons and technologies.

Liberating Limits: OFAC Licenses

April 8, 2024

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) safeguards national security and helps advance U.S. foreign policy objectives by administering the U.S. sanctions regime. OFAC’s general and specific licenses serve as key mechanisms for authorizing and regulating certain transactions that would otherwise be prohibited under sanctions programs. The exceptions provided by licenses help businesses and individuals navigate international transactions without violating U.S. sanctions policies.

Stuck and Seized – Consequences of Forced Labor

March 26, 2024

Global economies are more interconnected than ever, and human rights abuses can have a profound impact on supply chains and disrupt the flow of goods. Recent deliveries of certain luxury vehicles, such as Porsches, Audis, and Bentleys have been delayed because a small component that links those vehicles with computer networks was produced by a Chinese company linked to forced labor and surveillance of Uyghur populations in China.

Russia Sanctions Evasion Case Study: Viktor Labin

March 18, 2024

When conducting customer due diligence and enhanced due diligence, simple screening for names that may be on sanctions lists is no longer sufficient given the increasing complexity of Russia’s sanctions evasion efforts and the volatile regulatory environment because of Moscow’s aggression against Ukraine. Extra research is necessary to ensure compliance with sanctions laws and adherence with your company’s own risk policies. This research, however, can be complex, and structured analytic techniques and tools are necessary for effective due diligence.

Binging Griselda? Let’s Talk Drug Trafficking Sanctions

March 7, 2024

Netflix’s new series Griselda tells the story of Griselda Blanco. Known as the “Godmother of Cocaine,” Blanco trafficked cocaine from Colombia to Miami from the 1970s to the early 2000s. Despite her criminal activities, Blanco managed to evade law enforcement for many years. There were no sanctions against Blanco at the time, since the Kingpin Act, a U.S. law aimed at combating international drug trafficking and organized crime, was enacted in 1999 after Blanco’s sentencing.

Risky Russia – Government Agencies Warn Businesses of Possible Trouble

March 5, 2024

The US Departments of State, Treasury, Commerce, and Labor in late February issued a business advisory warning firms and financial institutions about the serious legal, financial, and reputational risks of doing business in Russia. According to the State Department’s assessment, Russia’s kleptocratic environment undermines fair competition and the rule of law, exposing businesses to the risk of extortion, appropriation of assets, and US law enforcement action.

Thanks to Russia, Cross-Border Sanctions Collaboration at All-Time High

February 28, 2024

Russia's unprovoked invasion and continued aggression in Ukraine has led to an unprecedented level of collaboration by sanctions stakeholders across jurisdictions, agencies, and sectors. IFI is publishing a series of blogs to highlight this increased collaboration. In this first blog, we take a look at cooperation across borders and most notably by the REPO Task Force and Price Cap Coalition.