Dive into financial crime: Top 10 books to read

With Australia's AML/CTF regulation changes on the horizon, there is no better time to dive deep into the world of financial crime through insightful and compelling books.

We’ve carefully reviewed a wide range of titles, filtering through countless pages to bring you a curated list of the top 10 must-read financial crime books. These selections offer valuable perspectives, expert analysis and real-world stories that will enrich your understanding of money laundering, fraud, corruption and more.

Let’s get started!

AML books to read.

1. The Lucky Laundry: How the Aussie Economy got Hooked on the World's Dirtiest Cash

Author: Nathan Lynch

Australia is awash with dirty money. It flows through our economy, keeps banks running, powers big business, puts coffee on restaurant tables, seeps into clubs, pubs, sport, the art world and anywhere that value is moved.

In The Lucky Laundry, financial crime expert Nathan Lynch delves deep inside this hidden world to explain how dark money has infected the lives of ordinary people - and tainted Australian democracy. He opens the curtain on the hidden world of financial intelligence, where crooks and spooks play a cat-and-mouse game inside the world's black money markets.

2. Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency

Author: Andy Greenberg

Tracers in the Dark is a story of crime and pursuit unlike any other. With unprecedented access to the major players in federal law enforcement and private industry, veteran cybersecurity reporter Andy Greenberg tells an astonishing saga of criminal empires built and destroyed. 

Utterly of our time, Tracers in the Dark is a cat-and-mouse story and a tale of a technological one-upmanship. Filled with canny maneuvering and shocking twists, it answers a provocative question: How would some of the world’s most brazen criminals behave if they were sure they could never get caught?

3. Freezing Order: A True Story of Money Laundering, Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin's Wrath

Author: Bill Browder

Bill Browder returns with another gripping thriller chronicling how he became Vladimir Putin’s number one enemy by exposing Putin’s campaign to steal and launder hundreds of billions of dollars and kill anyone who stands in his way.

At once a financial caper, an international adventure, and a passionate plea for justice, Freezing Order is a stirring morality tale about how one man can take on one of the most ruthless villains in the world—and win.

4. Moneyland: Why Thieves And Crooks Now Rule The World And How To Take It Back

Author: By Oliver Bullough

Join the investigative journalist Oliver Bullough on a journey into Moneyland - the secret country of the lawless, stateless superrich.

Learn how the institutions of Europe and the United States have become money-laundering operations, undermining the foundations of Western stability. Discover the true cost of being open for business no matter how corrupt and dangerous the customer. Meet the kleptocrats. Meet their awful children. And find out how heroic activists around the world are fighting back.

5. The Panama Papers: Breaking the Story of How the Rich and Powerful Hide Their Money

Author: Bastian Obermayer & Frederik Obermaier

Late one evening, investigative journalist Bastian Obermayer receives an anonymous message offering him access to secret data. Through encrypted channels, he then receives documents revealing how the president of Argentina has sequestered millions of dollars of state money for private use. This is just the beginning.

Panama Papers is an intense, unputdownable account that proves, once and for all, that there exists a small elite living by a different set of rules and blows their secret world wide open.

6. Rinsed: From Cartels to Crypto How the Tech Industry Washes Money for the World's Deadliest Crooks

Author: Geoff White

Money laundering has been around for centuries. For as long as people have been willing to steal money, there's been an industry ready to wash it. But recent tech innovations have created vastly complex new systems for laundering that threaten to overwhelm authorities, destabilise economies and disrupt societies.

Rinsed is a relevatory investigation into the new army of innovative criminals using tech to launder money ... and the consequences for all of us.

7. Where were You?: A Profile of Modern Slavery

Author: Matt Friedman

A Profile of Modern Slavery provides an up-to-date overview of human trafficking, a largely ignored present-day evil, and recounts true stories of enslavement in Asia today. Former United Nations and USAID expert Matthew Friedman obtained in-depth first-hand knowledge with boots-on-the-ground work over 30 years throughout Asia.

Human trafficking exists in nearly every nation on earth and Friedman has personally interviewed hundreds of freed slaves and imprisoned traffickers throughout South and Southeast Asia. The modern slave trade operates in brothels, fisheries, clothing and chocolate industries, as well as a myriad of other manufacturing jobs and is a billion dollar business that continues to grow unchecked. Even with the collective response of governments, the UN and civil society partners, less than 0.2 percent of the victims are assisted. 

This book not only reveals the plight of human trafficking victims, Friedman also offers valuable advice and guidance related to his own personal experiences working in the counter-trafficking and development world. 

8. American Kleptocracy: How the U.S. Created the World's Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History

Author: Casey Michel

American Kleptocracy examines just how the United States’ implosion into a center of global offshoring took place - how states like Delaware and Nevada perfected the art of the anonymous shell company, and how post-9/11 reformers watched their success usher in a new flood of illicit finance directly into the U.S.; how African despots and post-Soviet oligarchs came to dominate American coastlines, American industries, and entire cities and small towns across the American Midwest; how Nazi-era lobbyists birthed an entire industry of spin-men whitewashing trans-national crooks and despots, and how dirty money has now begun infiltrating America's universities and think tanks and cultural centers; and how those on the front-line are trying to restore America's legacy of anti-corruption leadership—and finally end this reign of American kleptocracy.

It will also look at how Trump’s presidency accelerated all of the trends already on hand—and how the Biden administration can, and should, act on this inheritance.

9. Too Big to Jail: Inside HSBC, the Mexican Drug Cartels and the Greatest Banking Scandal of the Century

Author: Chris Blackhurst

From journalist Chris Blackhurst, Too Big to Jail unveils how HSBC facilitated mass money laundering schemes for brutal drug kingpins and rogue nations – and thereby helped to grow one of the deadliest drugs empires the world has ever seen.

Too Big to Jail is an extraordinary story, brilliantly told by writer, commentator and former editor of The Independent , Chris Blackhurst, that starts in Hong Kong and ranges across London, Washington, the Cayman Islands and Mexico, where HSBC saw the opportunity to become the largest bank in the world, and El Chapo seized the chance to fuel his murderous empire by laundering his drug proceeds through the bank. It brings together an extraordinary cast of politicians, bankers, drug dealers, FBI officers and whistle-blowers, and asks what price does greed have? Whose job is it to police global finance? And why did not a single person go to prison for facilitating the murderous expansion of a global drug empire?

10. The War on Dirty Money

Author: Nicholas Gilmour and Tristram Hicks

Billions of dollars are wasted each year trying to prevent ‘dirty money’ entering a financial system that is already awash with it. The authors challenge the global approach, arguing that complacency, self-interest and misunderstanding have now created long-standing absurdities. International and government policy makers inadvertently facilitate tax evasion, corruption, environmental and organised crime by separating crime from its root cause.

The handful of crime-fighters that do exist are starved of resources whilst an army of compliance box-tickers are prevented from truly helping. The authors provide a toolbox of evidence-based solutions to help the frontline tackle financial crime.

All book summaries provided by Goodreads.com.

AML experts to follow (ANZ)

If you'd like to keep on top of the latest AML news in ANZ, these experts are well worth following on LinkedIn. In alphabetical order: 

Amy Bell

Although a UK-native, Amy spends a large proportion of her time in Australia. Amy is Chair of the UK Law Society's Money Laundering Task Force, founder of Teal Compliance, and author of key AML texts. She brings 20+ years’ experience as a solicitor and compliance expert.

Doron Goldbarsht

An Associate Professor at Macquarie Law School and Director of the Financial Integrity Hub, Doron is an expert in AML and financial crime. He advises government, industry and legal bodies on AML/CTF compliance and has authored leading texts on global regulatory frameworks.

Jeremy Moller

A Senior Advisor at Norton Rose Fulbright, he has 15 years’ experience in AML, sanctions, and financial crime. He’s led compliance programs, supported major inquiries, and brings in-house and board-level risk expertise.

Luke Raven

Luke is a leading anti-financial crime expert with 15+ years in banks and fintechs. An active MLRO and LinkedIn Top Voice, he specialises in AML, fraud, sanctions, and anti-bribery.

Nathan Lynch

A financial crime writer and international speaker based in Australia, Nathan has spent 20 years investigating the dark economy that fuels organised crime and corruption. He is the author of The Lucky Laundry and a certified cybercrime specialist.

Neil Jeans

Neil is a financial crime expert with over 20 years’ experience across law enforcement, regulation and banking. Also a Partner at Grant Thornton, he advises global businesses on AML, sanctions and anti-bribery risks.

We hope you enjoy the lot!