Authoritarian regimes like Russia and China use malign finance—the funding of foreign political parties, candidates, campaigns, well-connected elites, or politically influential groups, often through non-transparent structures designed to obfuscate ties to a nation state or its proxies—to interfere in democracies. Find ASD’s work on malign finance and the threat it poses to democracy on this page.
Interference Matters
Russia Is Still Finding Willing Partners Throughout Europe
Jessica Brandt and Joshua Rudolph on a New National Security Framework for Foreign Interference
ASD Head of Policy and Research Jessica Brandt and Malign Finance Fellow Joshua Rudolph argue for a new, holistic campaign finance framework for countering foreign political contributions. [...]
EU Foreign Investment Screening – At Last, a Start
In March, the European Union passed a regulation, the most binding legal instrument at its disposal, to strengthen foreign-investment screening processes throughout the union. The law came into force in April, and member states have until October 20 [...]
The G7 Should Redouble Efforts to Stop Covert Foreign Money
This article was originally published as a German Marshall Fund Transatlantic Take on August 22, 2019. This weekend may be the first time in the history of the G7 that the group meets without agreeing on a joint statement. That’s partly because t [...]
Josh Kirschenbaum on Closing Illicit Finance Loopholes in The American Interest
Using the analogy of a front and a back door, ASD's Josh Kirschenbaum explains that while the U.S. Government has been assiduous in anti-money-laundering enforcement against banks, it has been lax in its AML enforcement against electronic payments c [...]
Laura Rosenberger Discusses Russia’s Use of Economic Coercion with Rachel Maddow on MSNBC
ASD Director Laura Rosenberger appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show to discuss Russian economic coercion and malign financial influence. [...]
Massive Russian Financial Flows Through Moldova Show Small Jurisdictions Matter
This article was originally published as a German Marshall Fund Transatlantic Take on July 26, 2019. In 2014 the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) revealed a staggering Russian money-laundering operation perpetrated through [...]
Mueller Hearings: Policy Recommendations on Combatting Foreign Interference
In his testimony this week, former Special Counsel Robert Mueller III reiterated that foreign interference is “among the most serious” challenges to democracy, and that it “deserves the attention of every American.” The Alliance for Securing Democr [...]
Will Greece’s New Government Resist Authoritarian Influence or Court It?
On July 7, Greeks voted in national elections to replace Alexis Tsipras and his ruling left-wing Syriza party with Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ right-wing New Democracy. Mitsotakis’ party platform promises to re-energize the Greek economy and attract new in [...]
Jessica Brandt on Italy’s Russian Financing Scandal in Axios
ASD Head of Policy and Research Jessica Brandt writes about the unfolding scandal of Russian financing of Italy's major far-right party La Lega in Axios. [...]
Caught Red Handed: Russian Financing Scheme in Italy Highlights Europe’s Vulnerabilities
In February 2019, two Italian investigative journalists made an explosive revelation: Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right party La Lega and Italian interior minister, had sought financing from the Kremlin to the tune of millions of euros. That c [...]
Joshua Kirschenbaum on a Panel at Brussels Forum 2019: “Illicit Financing and Foreign Influence”
ASD Senior Fellow for Malign Finance Joshua Kirschenbaum joined Jesper Berg, Director General of the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority, and Evika Silina, Parlimentary Secretary to the Prime Minister of Latvia on a panel at the German Marshall F [...]