Research

Scholarly books

• Goldbarsht, D., & de Koker, L. (2024, forthcoming) Financial Crime and The Law: Identifying and Mitigating Risks, Springer.
• Goldbarsht, D., & de Koker, L. (2024, forthcoming) Financial Crime, Law and Governance: Navigating Challenges In Diverse Contexts, Springer.
• Leuprecht, C., & Ferrill, J. (2023) Dirty Money: Financial Crime in Canada. Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press.
• Goldbarsht, D., & de Koker, L. (2022) Financial Technology and the Law: Combating Financial Crime, Springer International Publishing.
• Sheedy, E. (2021) Risk governance : biases, blind spots and bonuses. Abingdon, Oxon ; Routledge.
• Daley Birkett Asset Freezing at the International Criminal Court and the United Nations Security Council: A Legal Protection Perspective (Eleven International Publishing 2021).
• Goldbarsht, D. (2020) Global counter-terrorist financing and soft law: multi-layered approaches, Edward Elgar Publishing.

Scholarly book chapters

• Ferrill, J. & Tiwari, M. (forthcoming, 2023) Weeding Out Dirty Money: Cannabis Regulations and Financial Crime. In
• Goldbarsht, d,. & de Koker, L. Combating Financial Crime: Global, National and Institutional Trends. Springer.
  Goldbarsht, D, "Leveraging AI to mitigate money laundering risks in the banking system". In Bednarz, Z and Zalnieriute, M Money, power and AI . Cambridge University Press (CUP) 51-69.
• Ferrill, J., Leuprecht, C., Simser, J. (2023). Introduction to Financial Crime in Canada. In C. Leuprecht, & J. Ferrill (Eds.), Financial Crime in Canada. McGill Queens University Press.
• Hataley, T., & Ferrill, J. (2023). Organized Crime, Trade-Based Money Laundering, and the Canada-United States Trade Stream. In C. Leuprecht, & J. Ferrill (Eds.), Financial Crime in Canada. McGill Queens University Press.
• Leuprecht, C., & Ferrill, J. (2023). The State of Financial Crime in Canada. In C. Leuprecht, & J. Ferrill (Eds.), Financial Crime in Canada. McGill Queens University Press.
• Ferrill, J., Hale, G., Sundberg, K. (2023). Alberta and the Northwest. In C. Leuprecht & T. Hataley (Eds.), Security. Cooperation. Governance. University of Michigan Press.
• Ferrill, J., Nicklin, G., McComas, H., Legrand, T. (2023). Beyond the border: Trans-Tasman border management in the era of globalization, in Leuprecht, C., Hataley, T., Brunet-Jailly, E. (eds) Patterns in Border Security: Regional Comparisons. Abingdon: Routledge
• de Koker, L., Goldbarsht, D. (2022) "Financial Technologies and Financial Crime: Key Developments and Areas for Future Research" in Goldbarsht, D., de Koker, L. (eds) Financial Technology and the Law. Law, Governance and Technology Series, vol 47. Springer
• Goldbarsht, D., de Koker, L. (2022) "From Paper Money to Digital Assets: Financial Technology and the Risks of Criminal Abuse" in Goldbarsht, D., de Koker, L. (eds) Financial Technology and the Law. Law, Governance and Technology Series, vol 47. Springer
• Daley Birkett 'Asset Recovery at International(ised) Criminal Tribunals: Fines, Forfeiture, and Orders for Reparations' in Nina H.B. Jørgensen (ed), The International Criminal Responsibility of War's Funders and Profiteers (Cambridge University Press 2020) 455–480.

Refereed journal articles

• Goldbarsht, Doron, Sheedy, Elizabeth, 'Money Laundering and the Risk in the Risk-Based Approach: The Australian Context', Monash University Law Review, 50 (1) 2024 (forthcoming)
• Goldbarsht, Doron, Benson, Katie, 'From later to sooner: exploring compliance with the global regime of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing in the legal profession', Journal of Financial Crime 2024 (forthcoming).
• Tiwari, M., Ferrill J. (2023). Evolution of Cannabis Regulations and their Overlooked Link with Money Laundering: Australia as a Critical Case Study. Journal of Money Laundering Control, ahead of print.
• Tiwari, M., Ferrill, J., Allan, D. (2023). Trade-Based Money Laundering: A Systematic Literature Review, Journal of Accounting Literature, ahead-of-print.
• Goldbarsht, D. (2023), "Adapting confiscation and anti-money laundering laws to the digital economy: exploring the Australian interplay between proceeds and technology", Journal of Money Laundering Control, ahead-of-print.
• Hannah Harris, 'Corporate liability within the IACC framework – a proposal for enhanced corporate accountability', 2023, In: Transnational Criminal Law Review. 2, 1, p. 74-89 16
• Daley J. Birkett, 'Recovering Assets at an International Anti-Corruption Court: Cautionary Tales from Rome, The Hague, and the Field' (2023) 2(1) Transnational Criminal Law Review 59.
• Tiwari, M. & Ferrill, J. (2023). Factors Influencing the Choice of Technique to Launder Funds: The APPT Framework, Journal of Economic Criminology, 1: 1-11.
• Goldbarsht, D., & Harris, H. (2022). Check the Balance: Is the Doctrine of Separation of Powers Sufficient in the Context of Intergovernmental Organisations? A Case Study of Australia's AML/CTF Financing Framework. Federal Law Review, 50(4), 527-557
• Goldbarsht, D. (2022), "Virtual currencies as a quasi-payment tool: the case of frequent-flier programs and money laundering", Journal of Money Laundering Control, 25(1) 150
• Doron Goldbarsht, Hannah Harris 2020, 'Transnational regulatory networks: a study in compliance and legitimacy in counter-terrorist financing', Journal of Financial Crime 27(3) 855
• Daley Birkett 'Challenging United Nations Security Council- and International Criminal Court-Requested Asset Freezes in Domestic Courts: Views from the United Kingdom and Italy' (2022) 55(2) Israel Law Review 107–126 (with Dini Sejko).
• Goldbarsht, D., Balasingham, B., Moller, J. (2021) "Open banking in Australia: Competition and money laundering, risks and benefits" Journal of Banking and Finance Law and Practice 32(2) 59.
• Daley Birkett 'Distilling the Aims of International(ized) Criminal Tribunals' Asset Freezing Powers through the Crucible of Prosecutor v Félicien Kabuga' (2021) 5 PKI Global Justice Journal 38.
• Doron Goldbarsht 2020, 'Reverse engineering legal professional privilege in a globalising world – the Australian case', Journal of Money Laundering Control 23(3) 677.
• Daley Birkett 'Coexistent but Uncoordinated: Asset Freezing Measures at the International Criminal Court and the UN Security Council' (2020) 20(6) International Criminal Law Review 983–1025.
• Doron Goldbarsht 2020, 'Am I my corporate's keeper?: Anti-money laundering gatekeeping opportunities of the corporate legal officer', International Journal of the Legal Profession 29(3) 261.
• Daley Birkett 'Managing Frozen Assets at the International Criminal Court: The Fallout of the Bemba Acquittal' (2020) 18(3) Journal of International Criminal Justice 765–790.
• Daley Birkett 'Asset Freezing at the European and Inter-American Courts of Human Rights: Lessons for the International Criminal Court, the United Nations Security Council and States' (2020) 20(3) Human Rights Law Review 502–525.
• Doron Goldbarsht 2017, 'Who's the legislator anyway? How the FATF's global norms reshape Australian counter terrorist financing, laws', Federal Law Review 45(1) 127.

Other research outputs and submissions

• Goldbarsht, D., de Koker, L. (2023). Submission to the Attorney General’s Department on the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act Reforms.
• Ferrill, J., Tiwari, M., Allan, D. (2023). Submission to the Attorney General’s Department on the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act Reforms. Financial Crime Studies Team.
• Scott, B., and Simpson, A. (2023). Submission to the Attorney General’s Department on the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act Reforms.
• Goldbarsht, D., Clark, S. (2023) “Modernising Australia’s anti-money laundering regime: Extending AML obligations to lawyers” Law Society of NSW journal. https://lsj.com.au/articles/modernising-australias-anti-money-laundering-regime-extending-aml-obligations-to-lawyers/
• Ferrill, J., Tiwari. M. (2023). Australia is awash with dirty money – here’s how to close the money-laundering loopholes. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/australia-is-awash-with-dirty-money-heres-how-to-close-the-money-laundering-loopholes-206606
• Goldbarsht, D “Tranche II is coming: legal professionals as gatekeepers” Feb 2022, Law Society of NSW journal. 85, p. 71.

Projects and presentations

• Doron Goldbarsht "Artificial Intelligence and Financial Integrity in the Banking System", Bank of China, Sydney 13 March 2024.
• Hannah Harris, "Mapping Innovative Criminal law mechanisms to deter and punish Illegal Logging in PNG - AML/CTF Frameworks and Beyond" October 2023 - March 2024, for ActNow!PNG
• Daley J. Birkett Participant, Expert Meeting, 'Financing of reparations owed to victims of serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law', convened by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence (29 March 2023).
• Goldbarsht, D., Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime, Cambridge, UK, Speaker, 2023
• De Koker, L., Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime, Cambridge, UK, Speaker, 2023
• Ferrill, J., Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime, Cambridge, UK, Speaker, 2023
• Goldbarsht, D., ACAMS 3rd Annual AML & Anti-Financial Crime Conference – Australasia, Speaker, June 2023
• Goldbarsht, D., ASSA Workshop: Proceeds and technology – Adapting confiscation and related AML laws to the digital economy (University of Queensland), Speaker, June 2023
• Ferrill, J., University of Plymouth Annual Criminology Conference, Plymouth, UK, Keynote speaker, 15 June 2023
• Goldbarsht, D., Transform Finance: Fincrime Summit, Speaker, May 2023
• Hannah Harris, Grant Walton, George Carter, Ryan Edwards, "Strengthening Pacific Integrity – mapping opportunities for anti-corruption research leadership, knowledge exchange and strategic engagement", co-investigator with funding from ANU, November 2023-November 2023
• Hannah Harris, Liz Campbell, "An Empirical Analysis of the Failure to Prevent Foreign Bribery Offence: Is F2P an effective model of corporate accountability?", Workshop: Recreating Corporate Accountability, held in Prato, Italy on 3 and 4th September 2023 and hosted by Monash University as part of the Monash Network of Excellence on Enhancing Corporate Accountability.
• Daley J. Birkett, Roundtable Consultation, 'Asset recovery: States Parties' "readiness" to comply with ICC cooperation requests', organised by Redress (6 September 2023).
• Ferrill, J., Presentation to Center for Advanced Security, Strategic, and Integration Studies, Bonn, Germany, Speaker, 30 Mar 2023
• Ferrill, J., Association for Borderlands Studies, Eilat, Israel, Speaker, 13 Feb 2023- 18 Feb 2023
• De Koker, L., Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime, Cambridge, UK, Speaker, 2022
• Goldbarsht, D., Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime, Cambridge, UK, Speaker, 2022
• Ferrill, J., Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime, Cambridge, UK, Speaker, 2022

Tranche II and the Impact on the Real Estate Industry

Industry Partnership and Academic Collaboration

The Financial Integrity Hub (FIH) has partnered with the GRC Institute and Macquarie Law School on a research project in which Professional and Community Engagement (PACE) students works with Naomi Burley CEO, GRC Institute and member organisations (such as Westpac, ANZ, AIA and Deloitte), to identify and assess the impact of the anti-money laundering and counter- terrorist financing regime under ‘Tranche II’ on the property sector in Australia.

This project involves looking into the two recommendations the federal government has made: the cost on real estate agencies and their capacity to meet reporting obligations.

Students will also assist GRCI and FIH in developing a context-specific 'toolkit' to provide guidance to the real estate industry on compliance with the Australian legal regime. Moreover, students will get an opportunity to collaborate with industry experts to assist with drafting best practice.

See our full toolkit

Counter-Terrorist Financing and the Dark Web

Industry Partnership Research

The Financial Integrity Hub (FIH) has partnered with CyberPro to conduct research and collect data to provide insight into the ever-evolving technological methods used by criminals, particularly those used for terrorist financing.

Understanding the ways in which terrorist organisations manage their assets is critical to depleting organisations of their funds and ultimately, disrupting their activities. With little regulation and numerous opportunities, the dark web offers criminals a high degree of anonymity which is further exacerbated by the use of decentralised cryptocurrencies that further anonymity.

While cryptocurrencies may indeed be used for legal purposes; the lack of independent regulation has made their use attractive to criminals. This has created a jackpot for terrorist financing and simultaneously, exposed a legal blind spot for regulators.

The key objective of the research is to shed light on the prevalent use of the dark web by terrorist organisations.

Tranche II statement

The full implementation of the AML/CTF regime in Australia, which must include Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs), has been delayed for too many years. In order for Australia to maintain – and improve – its internationally respected position, immediate action is needed to implement FATF Recommendations 22 and 23.

In our opinion, it is strongly in the interests of Australia to act now and amend the AML/CTF Act to include DNFBPs. Australia is left more vulnerable to integrity abuse as a result of this persistent failure to appropriately address globally recognised areas of vulnerability. In addition, if the government waits until pressure from FATF (such as deadlines for compliance and, if necessary, a finding of non-compliance) forces it to comply, this may tarnish Australia’s reputation, threaten its access to international financial markets, and adversely affect the legitimacy and effectiveness of its AML/CTF regime.

We urge the government to consider the potentially dire consequences of delaying any further steps to tighten the AML/CTF regime by extending the obligations under the AML/CTF Act to DNFBPs.

See Tranche II statement

Designation of the IRGC under EU Law

The Financial Integrity Hub (FIH) was commissioned by the National Assembly of Iranian Jurists (NAIJ) to provide a legal opinion on whether the EU can designate the IGRC as a terrorist group.

On 19 January 2023, the European Parliament voted in favour of a measure calling for the European Union to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation. Josep Borrell, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, has argued that any such listing would first require a decision by a European Court:

"It is something that cannot be decided without a court. A court decision [is needed] first. You cannot say: 'I consider you a terrorist because I do not like you'. It has to be [done] when a court of one [of the EU] Member States issues a legal statement, a concrete condemnation. And then we work at the European level, but it has to be first a court decision."

Mr Borrell's assertion may not fully consider the EU's legal framework for designating a terrorist organisation.

Upon analysis of the legal framework, it appears that there is no structural obstacle – namely, the need for a judicial decision on the matter – that would prohibit the European Union from designating the IRGC as a terrorist organisation pursuant to CP 931.

See our full opinion

Attorney-General’s submission: Extending AML/CTF reporting obligations to legal professionals

This submission was prepared by Dr Doron Goldbarsht and Professor Louis de Koker.

Experts from four other jurisdictions contribute their special insights in Part III, ensuring that this is a comprehensive submission that can assist in moving forward with the AML/CTF reforms. We thank Dr Katie Benson for the United Kingdom section, Gary Hughes for the New Zealand section, Yehuda Shaffer for the Israel section, and Dr Jamie Ferrill and Dr Daniel Leslie for the Canada section.

We write in support of applying the AML/CTF Act across various gatekeeping industries, known as DNFBPs. These industries – which include real estate agents, lawyers and other independent legal professionals, notaries, accountants, trust and company service providers, and dealers in precious metals and stones – play a key role in facilitating efforts by individuals and companies to enter the financial system.

They are therefore considerably exposed to the risk of handling illicitly sourced funds. Imposing stronger regulations on DNFBPs is of enormous importance in preventing money laundering and strengthening Australia’s national security. This submission, however, will focus solely on the necessity of applying the AML/CTF Act to legal professionals.

See the submission

Attorney-General’s submission: Improving financial intelligence and enforcement outcomes

This submission was prepared by Ben Scott and Dr Alex Simpson.

The Australian Government’s proposed AML/CTF reforms are intended to simplify and streamline the operation of the existing regime and to extend it to high-risk professions such as lawyers, accountants and real estate agents. This submission focuses on changes to the regime that would support the objectives of detecting, deterring and disrupting money laundering and supporting collaboration between AUSTRAC, reporting entities and other government agencies.

The submission focuses on four main issues: (1) the absence of guidance on customer terminations in the AML/CTF regime; (2) the proposed changes to the process for obtaining exemptions from due diligence obligations to assist an investigation; (3) the scope of the tipping-off offence; and (4) guidance for tranche 2 entities in managing their AML/CTF obligations.

See the submission

Considering Online Casino Risks: A Comparative Report

Regulating Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing in the online casino sector: a global comparative analysis.

In this project, supported by Kroll, students explored the regulatory frameworks and practices concerning anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CTF) in the context of the online casino sector on a global scale. The study examined the effectiveness of existing measures and identify potential areas for improvement, with the goal of enhancing the global fight against illicit financial activities within the sector. Students analysed and compare the AML/CTF regulatory frameworks governing online casinos across different jurisdictions; the implementation and enforcement mechanisms employed by regulatory authorities in various countries; emerging trends, challenges, and best practices in AML/CTF compliance specific to this sector; and provided recommendations for enhancing international cooperation and coordination in combating financial crimes.

See the report