February 9, 2023
Summit for Democracy (S4D) Working Group (WG) on Kleptocracy and Illicit Finance Dialogue
Co-Chairs: David M. Luna, AITI and Dr. Layla Hashemi, TraCCC
Date: February 9, 2023
Time: 8:45 AM to 12 PM, EST
Click here for the program and here for the flyer.
Click here for the video.
Click here for the TraCCC-AITI Co-Chairs’ Statements.
Click here for the Final Report.
Dialogue II: Investigating and Prosecuting Kleptocrats and Complicit Enablers
Co-Hosted: TraCCC-AITI, Brookings Institution, Coalition for Integrity
Opening Keynote Session:
- Brendan T Boundy, U.S. Deputy Coordinator for Global Anti-Corruption, Department of State
- Ambassador Norm Eisen (Ret.), Co-Chair, S4D Democracy Cohort for Financial Transparency and Integrity, Brookings Institution
- Dr. Louise I Shelley, Director, Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC), George Mason University
Chair: David M. Luna, Co-Director, Anti-Illicit Trade Institute (AITI), TraCCC, GMU
Session 1: Strengthening Cooperation to Investigate Kleptocracies and Seizing Assets
Moderator: Jim Wright, AML Instructor; Former Financial Advisor, U.S. Treasury OTA
Panelists:
- Debra LaPrevotte, Senior Investigator, The Sentry; Former Supervisory Special Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), DOJ
- David Lewis, Former Executive Secretary, Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Managing Director, Global Head of AML Advisory, Forensic Investigations and Intelligence, Kroll
- Drew Sullivan, Co-Founder and Publisher, Organized Crime and Corruption Report Project (OCCRP)
Session 2: Judicial Action, Information-Sharing and Prosecutions
Moderator: Jonathan J. Rusch, Director, U.S. and International Anti-Corruption Law Program and Adjunct Professor, Washington College of Law American University; Former Federal Prosecutor, Fraud Section, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice
Panelists:
- Mary Butler, Chief of the International Unit of the DOJ Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, U.S. Department of Justice
- Jeffrey Coleman, Supervisory Special Agent, FBI (assigned to the International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre)
- Tess Davis, Executive Director, Antiquities Coalition
Session 3: Defending the Defenders and Collective Action
Moderator: Shruti Shah, President & CEO, Coalition for Integrity
Panelists:
- Jen Lewis, Deputy Executive Director, Anticorruption Task Force, USAID
- Samantha Feinstein, Government Accountability Project
- Gypsy Guillén Kaiser, Committee to Protect Journalists
- Khadija Sharife, Senior Investigator, OCCRP
Discussion and Closing Session
Chair: Dr. Layla Hashemi, TraCCC, GMU Strategic Observation and Intervention by Frank Vogl, Board Chair, Partnership for Transparency Fund (PTF)
6 December 2021
Summit for Democracy–Side Event
Authoritarian States’ Illicit Finance and Kleptocracy: Threats to Democracy, Peace and Security
Overview:
The one-hour long webinar consisted of two sessions aimed at discussing possible ideas, solutions, and recommended actions to S4D, the United States, and S4D communities.
Session one, The Corruptive Influence of Authoritarian States: A Kleptocracy Security Threat to Democracy and Human Rights, featured Dr. Louise I. Shelley, director of TraCCC and Claudia Escobar, former Judge of the Court of Appeals of Guatemala and a respected legal scholar. The first session was moderated by David M. Luna, Co-Director, TraCCC-AITI.
Session two, Illicit Financing of Crime, Violence, and Insecurity in Authoritarian States, featured two internationally-recognized experts and instructors of the TraCCC-AITI ongoing program on authoritarianism, John Cassara and Lakshmi Kumar, Global Financial Integrity (GFI). Session two was moderated by Dr. Layla Hashemi.
The event also featured Corina Rebegea from the National Democratic Institute (NDI).
Find more information about the TraCCC-AITI event for the Summit of Democracy including the Final Chairs’ Report:
Event Recording (Video)
Find all civil society side events for the Summit for Democracy:
For more information, click here
Summit for Democracy–Side Event
From High-Level Talk to Grassroots Action: How We Can Support Civic Actors to Achieve S4D Commitments
Overview:
The Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TRaCCC) at George Mason University and Accountability Lab hosted a session that dove into how the Summit for Democracy commitments can be translated into meaningful, sustainable reforms on the ground through concerted civic action.
Too often, commitments at the international level by governments do not lead to change for citizens. Cutting across the Summit’s three key themes, this conversation drew on examples from around the world as to how local change-makers–with support from forward-looking funders and donors–can articulate key needs, mobilize collective action, and identify cutting-edge approaches to fighting corruption, pushing back against authoritarianism and protecting human rights. The goal was to begin a shared conversation about these issues and what a new paradigm might look like for smart, dynamic donor support for grassroots democratic actions.
Distinguished Panelists
Shaazka Beyerle: Senior Fellow, TraCCC
McDonald Lewanika: Chief of Party, Accountability Lab Zimbabwe
Fred Bauma: Activist, Lucha Congo
Abigail Bellows: Deputy, Policy, Anti-Corruption Task Force, USAID
Margaret Mliwa: Program Officer, Eastern Africa, Ford Foundation
Date and Time
December 6, 2021
9:00 PM to 10:00 PM, EST
Location: Virtual
For more information, click here
Read the S4D blog post here, co-authored by Shaazka Beyerle.
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