Katharina Stoll

Working Title of PhD: Money Laundering and Art – A critical Analysis and Evaluation of Case Studies and Laws and Regulations

Year commenced PhD study: 2017 Institution/Organisation: University of Glasgow

Funding Source: part-time

PhD Supervisors: Dr. Donna Yates, Dr. Lilian Moncrieff

My postgraduate research will focus on studying cases of money laundering with a relation to the art market to develop common typologies which I then will use to come to a conclusion about the effectiveness of legislative measures in place and proposed industry guidelines. Consequently, the intention of my project is to ultimately answer the question whether currently applied laws and regulations are effectively preventing the misuse of the art market for money laundering and terrorist financing purposes. In lieu of this, I will create a database of money laundering case studies related to art and the art market from which I will develop and evaluate typologies. I will weigh these typologies against current laws and regulations in place to assess whether those are effective.
As a result, I will propose answers to the following sub-research questions: Are there any similarities between typologies for trade-based money laundering, money laundering through the real estate market, money laundering related to wildlife and human trafficking and money laundering related to the art market? If so, how can they be used to prevent money laundering more effectively? What would be art market specific red flag indicators that could be useful for financial services institutions and art market actors relating to the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing in the art market?

Keywords: Money Laundering, Art Market, Art Crime