Monet’s Water Lilies, 7 private jets, a US$1.3 million Cartier ring – the most extravagant purchases made with dirty money in the UK
More than US$400 billion of dirty money has flowed into the UK in the past 30 years – accepted by the likes of Harrods, Sotheby’s, Chelsea FC, Citigroup and the Royal Bank of Scotland
At least US$418 billion (£325 billion) of dirty money has flooded into the UK over the last 30 years, according to an analysis of more than 400 cases by Transparency International UK, an anti-corruption group.
Transparency traced much of the cash to “laundromats” – money-laundering schemes in Moldova, Azerbaijan and other former Soviet countries. The illicit funds passed through 86 banks and financial institutions, 81 law firms, 62 accountants and more than 2,200 companies in Britain and its overseas territories, it found.
Transparency also identified 17,000 shell companies used to deploy the funds, including 1,455 registered at a single office above a wine bar in Birmingham, according to The Guardian.
The organisation pinpointed several of the institutions that accepted the dirty money, including luxury sellers such as Harrods and Sotheby's, lenders such as Citigroup and the Royal Bank of Scotland and schools such as the London School of Economics (LSE).
“For the first time, we have shed light on who these companies are and how they have become entangled in some of the biggest corruption scandals of our time,” Duncan Hames, the group's director of policy, said in a statement to The Guardian.
Transparency has not accused any of the companies of wrongdoing.
Here are some of the biggest purchases outlined in the report:
421 luxury homes – US$6.4 billion
Three superyachts – US$305 million
Seven private jets – US$218.5 million
Cartier diamond ring – US$1.3 million
Bentley Bentayga – US$330,000
Corporate box at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge stadium – US$162,000
Tom Ford crocodile-skin jacket and matching Chanel handbag, bought at Harrods in London – US$65,146
Petit Nympheas (Water Lilies”) by Claude Monet, bought at Sotheby's in London – US$41.1 million
Hovercraft – US$44,758
Fees for private schools including Harrow and Charterhouse – US$3.6 million
Tuition for universities including London School of Economics and University College London – US$661,942
Educational consultants to help secure admission – US$424,666
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This article originally appeared on Business Insider.