Money Laundering Lessons: Why Your Commute Might Beat Netflix

In this article, our Head of Compliance, Juan McGuinness offers a fresh perspective on how anti money laundering is portrayed in popular culture and how you could boost your continuous professional development (CPD) hours.

Good AML fiction bridges rules and reality, letting us feel the human cost behind every suspicious transaction report long after the credits roll. We’re not just being entertained – we’re actively practicing how to spot the very red flags every compliance team needs to catch.

For pure drama, Ozark is hard to beat. It turns the jargon of placement, layering and integration into a tight lakeside casino thriller. And for high octane suspense, Breaking Bad steals the show, transforming a humble car wash and chicken chain into a crash course in money laundering, complete with the blue smoke flourish of cartel cash.

Money laundering isn’t all dark alleys and burner phones. Fiction dazzles, but the real cases that cross a compliance desk are just as suspenseful, and far more instructive for anyone who guards the financial system.

Two podcasts that prove it;

• The Lazarus Heist (BBC World Service)

North Korea’s Lazarus Group used phishing emails and a tampered SWIFT terminal to try to steal almost USD 1 billion from Bangladesh Bank. A single misspelt word (‘fandation’ instead of ‘foundation’) triggered alarms and limited the haul to only USD 81 million. Episode by episode, journalists Geoff White and Jean Lee replay the breach, the casino laundering and the geopolitical fallout. You finish a commute with goosebumps and a sharper feel for cybercrime red flags.

• Shadow World: The Grave Robbers (BBC Radio 4)

Investigative reporter Sue Mitchell tracks an Eastern European gang that forges wills, ‘inherits’ the homes of the recently deceased, and launders the proceeds through shell companies, cannabis farms and visa for sale rackets. Property fraud, fake IDs, lax company formation checks, every compliance pitfall in one chilling true crime package.

Both series are narrative driven, meticulously sourced and portable: perfect stealth CPD for anyone with 30 minutes behind a steering wheel or on a train. Fiction still helps, but only up to a point;

What fiction gives us:

• Memorable characters and dialogue that spark interest.
• A shared shorthand with clients and colleagues – ‘It was a bit Ozark, wasn’t it?’.
• Insight into criminal psychology.

What real podcasts add:

• Original documents, bank logs and on record interviews.
• Step by step breakdowns of where controls failed and how to fix them.
• Victim impact and regulatory blind spots in full colour.

Think of shows like Breaking Bad or Ozark as the cinematic trailer. The podcasts above are the full documentary with footnotes.

Thanks to these podcasts I have turned my 30 minute scenic morning commute along part of the Isle of Man TT course into my own ‘rolling classroom’. Once dead time is now CPD gold. Hearing Sue Mitchell trace forged wills while I pass stone walls reminds me that the assets we administer can disappear just as quietly if vigilance slips. And after visiting the DPRK in 2019, every Lazarus episode lands with extra force. The same country that runs on a bowl of cabbage soup a day and marches in perfect formation on parade pulls wildly creative cyber heists after dark.

Why does this matter to TCSPs and the wider Manx finance sector?

We sit at a pivotal crossroads in every fund’s journey. Onboarding decisions, periodic reviews and company service appointments often determine whether illicit funds merge into legitimate traffic or hit a barrier. Real world stories lodge longer than PowerPoint bullets and remind us that behind every layering scheme lies a hospital budget, a pension pot or a family home waiting to be stolen.

Podcasts like The Lazarus Heist and Shadow World also widen cultural awareness:

• Cross border nuances from Manila casinos to UK property registries, the weak link can sit far from our desk.
• Victim visibility, heirs describing a lost family house humanise the crime and strengthen our ‘why’.
• Control testing, each episode is a readymade case study: Would our process have stopped this?

Thirty minutes very well laundered. Binge Breaking Bad if you like, the pop culture frame is useful. But pair it with an episode of The Lazarus Heist or Shadow World on tomorrow’s commute and you’ll get the best of both worlds: entertainment that keeps you engaged and facts that keep you sharp.

We take governance seriously, we also know that when we complete AML adhering to all the rules laid out by the various associations and authorities, it can feel overwhelming at times but it is worth it. Once a customer is set up we can traverse clients easily through our various specialist teams such as ownership, tax, and customs, making onboarding and high value asset transactions fast.

If you are looking to increase your AML knowledge and CPD hours try the above and let us know how you get on. If you are looking to own, buy, or sell a business aircraft or high value asset, contact martin@martynfiddler.com.