WASHINGTON – The Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (J5) released its first July 24 2024 detailing the global impact of operations, public-private partnerships, and stakeholder engagement since its inception in 2018. During the J5’s first 6 years, it has generated more than a hundred leads, seized millions of dollars in criminal proceeds, issued notices to financial institutions and thwarted fraudulent investment and boiler-room schemes.
The report details current statistics from the J5 Cyber Group, noting that the team is currently working more than 30 active cybercrime investigations and that 10 active investigations stemmed from leads produced at the 2023 J5 Cyber Challenge in Ottawa, Canada. The J5 has also provided training to multiple countries across the globe, including South Africa, Israel, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Ukraine.
It also notes successes of the J5 Professional Enablers Group, including criminal charges against 15 individuals with ties to a boiler-room scheme and tax evasion charges against a United States (U.S.) defence contractor. This group is dedicated to tackling institutions, promoters and service-providers who facilitate and enable tax evasion and money laundering.
The J5 considers the launch of the Global Financial Institutions Partnership (GFIP) as one of its biggest achievements. This partnership has engaged more than 20 financial institutions to collaborate on shared priority threats. Representatives from the GFIP convene yearly at a summit to strategize on the best ways to combat financial and tax crimes.
“Six years ago, our 5 countries took a chance and publicly joined together to root out tax crimes,” said Guy Ficco, Chief, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation (CI). “We have learned a tremendous amount by working together and we are now an organization firing on all cylinders with real operational results – results that would not exist were it not for the J5. I’m proud of what we have accomplished together, but I’m also excited about what we can accomplish in the years ahead.”
“The J5 was bought together for the purpose of tackling tax crime—it’s a global problem and we answered it with a global solution,” said John Ford, Deputy Commissioner of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). “We can’t afford to work in isolation whilst organised criminals and tax cheats operate globally and then hide behind borders to try to evade consequences. Over the past 6 years, we’ve had some great achievements which wouldn’t have been possible without this network, and I’m confident our successes will continue in the years to come.”
“Our outstanding collaboration is one of the main pillars of the J5,” said Eric Ferron, Chief, Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) Criminal Investigations Directorate. “This collaboration has only increased over time and has become ever more important. The J5 members and our partners will once again have the opportunity to showcase their innovative and ambitious work in tackling global tax crime at the upcoming GFIP Summit in the Fall of 2024 in Ottawa, Canada. As the host of this event, I am looking forward to further our work with our public and private sector partners on high priority tax threats.”
“Since the launch of the J5 in 2018, we have focused on jointly fighting tax fraud, cyber-focused fraud and money laundering, a playing field we as the Dutch Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Service (FIOD) have traditionally been strong in. It is a unique informal international cooperation aimed at combating and preventing cross-border fraud. Unique because of its focus on operational results,” said Niels Obbink, Director General, FIOD. “Some notable results include Operation Atlantis; where signals from the Netherlands and other J5 countries led to a global investigation, Bestmixer; taking the mix service offline, the crypto challenges and the publication of risk indicators linked to non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrency assets. Since its inception, cooperation between countries has gained momentum. This is necessary because criminals are increasingly using borders to their advantage. Full of ambition, we look forward to further intensifying our cooperation.”
“From a bold idea to a fully-fledged operational alliance, in just 6 years the J5 has become the leading force in tackling international tax crime,” said Richard Las, Director, Fraud Investigation Service, His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). “We know that criminals don’t recognise or respect our borders. That’s why we launched this ground-breaking alliance, harnessing our collective skills and expertise to make the world a smaller place for tax cheats. I’m proud of what we’ve achieved so far, but I know there’s much more to come. Our mission continues at pace.”
The J5 leads the fight against international tax crime and money laundering, including cryptocurrency threats and those who undertake, enable or facilitate global tax evasion. They work together to gather information, share intelligence and conduct coordinated operations against transnational financial crimes. The J5 includes the ATO from Australia, the CRA from Canada, FIOD from the Netherlands, HMRC from the United Kingdom and IRS CI from the U.S.
