OPINION
Recently, the 21st celebration of International Anticorruption Day as designated by the United Nations to highlight the link between global peace and the fight against corruption, was observed.
As the U.S. office of the world’s largest anticorruption network, my organization is uniquely aware of how public officials who abuse their power for personal gain, be it by accepting bribes in exchange for favors or by outright plundering their national treasuries, are behind some of the most consequential crises our world faces today.
Extending well beyond the New York-New Jersey corridor and indeed U.S. shores, corruption and the illicit fortunes it generates for dictators and criminals helps explain some of the world’s most pressing global security threats.
To name but a few, corruption enables Iran’s aspiring nuclear weapons program, China’s aspiring militarism, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
With only some 35 days to go until the start of his second administration, President-elect Donald J. Trump can have an immediate and lasting impact on global security by fixing his administration’s focus on the fight against foreign corruption.
Take for example how the emerging "Authoritarian Axis," which includes Iran, China, and Russia, relies today not only on force, but money and influence acquired through corruption, to execute their agendas.
Corruption, for example, helps explain how Xi Jinping grows China's economic and political power globally.
Unable to derive legitimacy from the consent of the governed — perhaps no country outside Russia has made more famous the practice of zero-choice "elections" — Xi and his network instead use corruption strategically to pursue their geopolitical goals and credibility on the world stage.
A similar story unfolds in Russia, where oligarchs have reportedly moved billions out of Russia and into the United States, channeling funds through front companies and enlisting U.S. service providers to hide dirty money in U.S. assets like high-end real estate and private equity.
Similar playbooks are used across the world. Iranian nationals supported the country’s nuclear weapons program by hiding and investing over $300 million through front companies in California and elsewhere.
In Lebanon and Venezuela, corruption has helped spur hyperinflation, widespread poverty, and mass migration, as resources that should have gone toward productive investment and infrastructure were instead pocketed by corrupt officials.
During President Trump’s first term and with his administration’s support, Congress passed the Corporate Transparency Act, the U.S.’s newest and highest-potential tool for stopping corrupt foreign officials from laundering their dirty money in the United States.
The law ends the ability of criminals to hide behind front companies by requiring them to disclose their true owners to a confidential directory at the U.S. Treasury Department. Unmasking the actual human beings behind criminal front companies will help American law enforcement shut down such schemes, and Trump’s administration should build on his earlier legacy by ensuring the robust and timely enforcement of this transformative law.
Second, President Trump has an unprecedented opportunity to protect American businesses and to fight foreign corruption at its source by activating the new Foreign Extortion Prevention Act.
Universally supported by Republicans and Democrats alike, as well as by interest groups as diverse as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Greenpeace, this new law gives the Justice Department the power to criminally prosecute any foreign official who demands a bribe from a U.S. citizen, a U.S. company, or from any company listed on a U.S. stock exchange such as the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq.
Transparency International chapters around the world have heralded the law as a "gamechanger" and "pivotal" in the fight against corruption, highlighting how it can help level the playing field for American businesses.
Third, Trump can double down on efforts to stop dirty money at our borders by calling for the immediate expansion of the Bank Secrecy Act, which currently requires American banks to take specific measures to identify and flag suspicious transactions, to apply to "enablers" in this country who provide higher-risk financial services to their clients such as forming or registering a company, setting up a trust, or managing money.
Too often it has been lawyers, accountants, and corporate service providers operating here in this country who have supplied the "getaway cars" for the corrupt and other criminals to escape accountability.
Trump can give cops the tools they needs to cut off this supply by supporting the bipartisan ENABLERS Act, which is already supported by conservative stalwarts like the Republican Study Committee and Trump’s former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Finally, the Trump administration should support substantial funding increases for the "financial cops" that protect America from foreign dirty money.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Department of Justice’s KleptoCapture Task Force are charged with identifying, investigating, and prosecuting financial crimes that fund corrupt and authoritarian regimes, among other illicit ends, yet they remain under-resourced and overstretched.
These agencies need a massive injection of resources to be able to scale their efforts and match a global and growing threat.
Corruption cripples societies, and leads people of good will to abandon hope in a fair and prosperous future.
But efforts to combat corruption can have equally positive effects, both for U.S. security and global stability writ large.
Amidst a world of overlapping and seemingly spiraling crises and conflicts, we need such efforts from our new American leadership, and we need them now.
Scott Greytak is the director of advocacy for Transparency International U.S., part of the world’s oldest and largest anticorruption organization.
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