A new report by the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition looking at 230 environmental crimes in countries in the Amazon region provides new insights into how environmental crimes such as illegal mining, logging, and wildlife trafficking are being committed and how their associated profits are being laundered.

Many prosecutors and investigators are currently failing to “follow the money” in environmental crime cases, the report found. In fact, only one in three analyzed cases involved a financial investigation. As a result, many cases yield low-level arrests and seizures while those who are really responsible for the crime – and are benefiting financially from this $281 billion a year illicit economy – walk free. This creates a vicious cycle in which environmental crimes are widely perceived to be “low-risk, high-reward”, thereby attracting increasing interest from criminal groups seeking to benefit. (…)