Will Anti-Money Laundering Efforts Work Against the Islamic State?

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The Islamic State runs a self-sustaining economy that makes it one of the world’s richest terrorist groups, according to report in the Wall Street Journal. It’s going to be a challenge for traditional anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing systems to track funds tied to the group. “I’m not actually sure if anyone knows whether [the group’s money] is in the formal financial system,” said John Cassara, a former U.S. Treasury special agent and author of “Demons of Gadara,” a novel on terror finance. The group may well keep its money in cash or gold and use “hawalas,” or private money transfer businesses, to move funds, said Mr. Cassara.

Read the blog post by Rachel Louise Ensign in The Wall Street Journal.

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