Our adversaries are even using the US banking system. Here’s how they get away with it

The article details how state actors and organized crime use stolen identities, shell companies and facilitator networks to evade sanctions and move funds — often leveraging crypto rails — posing increasing risks to banks, investment screening and national-security reviews. It highlights correspondent-banking blind spots, long-lived breaches (the 2015 OPM leak) and domestic intermediaries that convert foreign operations into insider threats, enabling illicit cross-border payments, payroll fraud and opaque investment flows. Market implications include heightened AML/compliance costs, greater regulatory and CFIUS scrutiny, potential disruptions to correspondent banking and cryptocurrency flows, and increased reputational and operational risk for financial institutions handling cross-border transactions.