Incentivising Professionals to Facilitate Serious and Organised Crimes: Motivations, Networks and Rationalisations

Which professionals facilitate serious and organised crimes, and why do they do it? Through an integrated criminological and sociological/social network analytical perspective, this research will empirically examine and build theory on how and why 'professional' actors (lawyers, accountants, notaries, consultants, company formation agents, etc.) are incentivised (broadly defined) to facilitate serious and organised crimes within the UK. The research will investigate:

i. the motivations of facilitators (which factors drive professionals' involvement in criminal activities? e.g. profit, coercion, fear, ambition),
ii. the networks of facilitation (how are personal relations established and maintained over time? e.g. face to face, fraternal, online, anonymously, transactions through financial institutions) and,
iii. their rationalisations (how do they 'neutralise' their behaviours? e.g. common practice, no real/direct harm).

The research project aims at exploring the nature and organisation of the phenomenon of professional actors (e.g., lawyers, accounts, agents) facilitating money laundering within the UK. The main objectives of this research project are:
(1) Understand the nature and organisation of professional money laundering facilitation
(2) Explore the motivations of professional actors to participate in money laundering. e.g., profit, coercion, market pressures.
(3) Explore the rationalisations techniques professionals use to justify their involvement e.g., no harm, non-existent victims, complexity of the regulation.
(4) Explore the processes and networks that lead to their involvement. How the relationship with criminals was established and maintained over time.
(5) Understand how law enforcement agencies, criminal justice bodies and members of professional regulatory bodies collaborate to tackle this phenomenon. We want to explore the social networks of these actors.