In December 2025, I wrote about my discussion with Daniel Haberly, an expert in illicit financial flows based at the University of Sussex Centre for the Study of Corruption (CSC), regarding how to map the networks that facilitate flows of corrupt funds around the world. In this second piece from our conversation, I drill down into his 2023 paper Corruption, Shell Companies, and Financial Secrecy: Providing an Evidence Base for Anti-Corruption Policy...

Estimating the global volume of illicit financial flows stemming from tax evasion, laundering criminal proceeds, terrorist financing, financial fraud and corruption is an inexact science. The UN once estimated that 2%-5% of global GDP, or $800 billion - $2 trillion is laundered annually; in 2018, the IMF offered a range of $1.6-$4 trillion; in January 2024, Nasdaq gave an estimate of $3.1 trillion.