White-collar art crime: a criminological reading of anti-money laundering regulation on the Brazilian art market

Abstract

Anti-money laundering regulation on the art market, is it a friend or a foe? This research builds on criminological literature regarding white-collar crime to contribute new insights to test possible answers to this question. Theories on rational choice, situational crime prevention, routine activities and crime patterns are applied to the case study of Ordinance 396/2016/IPHAN, enacted in Brazil to establish compliance measures to be followed by art and antiquities dealers to control money laundering practices. Economic, social and cultural features of the art market shape the challenging balance between privacy and crime control management, with influential consequences for opportunities to engage in money laundering. A pyramidal regulatory model suggests a conjunction of self-regulatory measures, administrative sanctions and criminal penalties as useful instruments to mitigate these opportunities. This study focuses on the administrative initiatives requiring art professionals to undertake anti-money laundering due diligence measures and it critically analyses the extent to which they may rearrange the relations between dealers and clients and even the structure of organisations trading in art, which should allocate resources for compliance policies. The contributions of the regulatory framework are recognised in so far as it shows itself able to meet societal aspiration for a respectable art market through a shrewdly responsive intervention rather than just formal bureaucratic constraints.