New Documentary: Russian Officials Are the Main Source of Laundered Real Estate Cash
$1 trillion is stolen globally by corrupt officials every year—almost the US’ whole new budget bill.
A new documentary—titled From Russia With Cash—shows how Russian officials are the main source of the $1.5B per month in potentially laundered UK real estate cash.
The flick captures an actor posing as a Russian minister telling realtors he's spending government funds on property purchases, and the realtors shrugging it off, Newsweek reports.
The film puts realtors as the gatekeepers of all that stolen cash.
The movie’s creative consultant, Ben Judah, says the West should think of these swanky purchases as “blood mansions”—akin to blood diamonds coming out of Africa—because of the similar poverty they cause.
London is the hottest spot for international investors, then NYC and Miami—but in the US realtors don’t have to report shady behavior, in the UK they do. [Newsweek]
