Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TRACE (Tracking illicit money flows)
Berichtszeitraum: 2021-07-01 bis 2022-12-31
In order to disrupt and deter criminals involved in serious and organised crime, law enforcement authorities need to follow the money trail as part of their criminal investigations with the objective of seizing criminal assets. Our project, TRACE, will give LEAs the tools they need:
• to better identify and follow illicit money trails,
• to detect and analyse cross-border money flows used by criminals and terrorists using innovative technologies developed by the project which will process multiple meta-data feeds and cut through information pollution in real time and enhance case file/report preparation;
• develop, test and validate new technologies for detecting illicit money flows;
• increase efficiency and effectiveness of information sharing among EU LEAs; and
• develop durable solutions in compliance with inter alia the rule of law, European fundamental rights and data protection legislation by taking a co-creative and ethics-by-design approach which also addresses societal aspects (e.g. side effects of technological solutions, societal resilience), the issues of location, jurisdiction and the cross-border nature of such crimes.
We will address these challenges, by providing not only state of the art tools to trace illicit money trails, but by providing a flexible modular open source platform, which can be used to increase the innovation capabilities of LEAs, including advanced techwatch and foresight capabilities to improve LEAs innovation rate in AI services. Finally, the integrity and accountability of these AI services are increased, as the trail of input and/or output of data can always be traced and identified if needed.
TRACE introduces a multi-disciplinary approach that targets the delivery of an on-line investigation analysis system to fight money-laundering by tracking illicit and suspicious money flows, provide intelligence analytics for network reconstruction, harmonise e-evidence standards and foster asset recovery.
• to better identify and follow illicit money trails,
• to detect and analyse cross-border money flows used by criminals and terrorists using innovative technologies developed by the project which will process multiple meta-data feeds and cut through information pollution in real time and enhance case file/report preparation;
• develop, test and validate new technologies for detecting illicit money flows;
• increase efficiency and effectiveness of information sharing among EU LEAs; and
• develop durable solutions in compliance with inter alia the rule of law, European fundamental rights and data protection legislation by taking a co-creative and ethics-by-design approach which also addresses societal aspects (e.g. side effects of technological solutions, societal resilience), the issues of location, jurisdiction and the cross-border nature of such crimes.
We will address these challenges, by providing not only state of the art tools to trace illicit money trails, but by providing a flexible modular open source platform, which can be used to increase the innovation capabilities of LEAs, including advanced techwatch and foresight capabilities to improve LEAs innovation rate in AI services. Finally, the integrity and accountability of these AI services are increased, as the trail of input and/or output of data can always be traced and identified if needed.
TRACE introduces a multi-disciplinary approach that targets the delivery of an on-line investigation analysis system to fight money-laundering by tracking illicit and suspicious money flows, provide intelligence analytics for network reconstruction, harmonise e-evidence standards and foster asset recovery.
After its 18 months of implementation (1 July 2021 to 31 December 2022), the TRACE Project has carried out all the relevant activities towards accomplishing the above aim. The project has so far produced 22 deliverables drawn from 7 Work Packages (WPs) [i.e. WPs 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 10, and 11] out of the 11 WPs of the project. The WPs and deliverables are shown in Table 4 below. Implementation of WP9 will start later in the project while deliverables for WPs 4, 5 and 6 are being developed for submission to the European Commission (EC) in the next reporting period of the project (i.e. January 2023 to 30 June 2024). It is only WP11 that has had all its deliverables completed. Out of the expected 26 broad results of the project, the TRACE Consortium has obtained the following 5 broad results: We have developed illustrative use cases such as old and new terrorist financing schemes and money laundering. We have conducted analysis of money flows in the use cases to be shared with LEAs and, in particular, FIUs across the European Union (EU). We have mapped the legal framework for cross-border investigation and prosecution of IMFs in Europe. We have conducted ethics, data protection and societal impact assessment of the project’s new technologies, tools, and procedures. We have developed a framework which LEAs and other stakeholders can use to ensure their solutions are ethically acceptable and comply with, inter alia, data protection legislation, due process, rule of law and fundamental human rights and freedoms.
Pursuant to the TRACE Grant Agreement (TGA), all the deliverables and results for the current reporting period (1 July 2021 – 31 December 2022) have been accomplished. Therefore, in its month 20 (i.e. February 2023) of implementation, the TRACE Project has already co-created stellar results and is determined to continue unlocking the enormous law enforcement and investigation potential offered by information and communication technologies (ICT) through the development of AI-enabled tracking tools, processes and systems. Through these deliverables and results, TRACE has not only increased knowledge and understanding of innovative tools to counter IMFs but also opened pathways for realising law enforcement opportunities associated with AI-driven technologies and practices against IMFs. Reviews, feedback and feedforward from the TRACE partners during submission of deliverables and monthly telco meetings as well as from our Advisory Board (AB) and Ethics Advisory Board (EAB) lend credence to the fact that TRACE is moving in the right direction.
Pursuant to the TRACE Grant Agreement (TGA), all the deliverables and results for the current reporting period (1 July 2021 – 31 December 2022) have been accomplished. Therefore, in its month 20 (i.e. February 2023) of implementation, the TRACE Project has already co-created stellar results and is determined to continue unlocking the enormous law enforcement and investigation potential offered by information and communication technologies (ICT) through the development of AI-enabled tracking tools, processes and systems. Through these deliverables and results, TRACE has not only increased knowledge and understanding of innovative tools to counter IMFs but also opened pathways for realising law enforcement opportunities associated with AI-driven technologies and practices against IMFs. Reviews, feedback and feedforward from the TRACE partners during submission of deliverables and monthly telco meetings as well as from our Advisory Board (AB) and Ethics Advisory Board (EAB) lend credence to the fact that TRACE is moving in the right direction.
The TRACE Project is expected to improve investigation tools and/or systems, including Tools for locating and mapping hidden service directories. Tools for forensic analysis of digital media to identify digital currency datasets. Data provenance models. We have widely interacted/interfaced with LEAs to understand the technological and legal landscape of investigating IMFs. For instance, we surveyed 42 LEAs and found that LEAs require improved software solutions especially in automated data and document extraction, harmonising legal systems on cross-border exchange, and data sorting. We have so far demonstrated the investigation needs of LEAs and how LEAs can be supported with new technologies such as AI in maximising the efficiency and effectiveness of criminal investigations. We have widely disseminated our findings among LEAs. These initially impact the worldview of LEAs we have had contact with regarding use needs. It has set the pace for the consortium to supercharge our more technical deliverables in WPs 3, 4, 5 and 6, which can impact the three main tools above. Already, D3.2 has been developed by the consortium, which summarises technical and conceptual considerations for high performance source identification crawler in surface, deep, and dark nets to identify the money laundering community. These can enhance the tools for locating and mapping hidden service directories. For instance, the first test cases for the infrastructure have been developed and used to support crawler development, including additional search strategies for hidden community identification. To facilitate the user friendliness of our tools, we will create one or more dashboards. We will conduct demonstrations of the value of the technology in expediting investigations relating to money flows in the use cases. We will ask our LEA partners, Stakeholder Board LEAs and other LEAs to evaluate the extent to which the TRACE tools in their own environment improve their investigation capabilities. We have already laid the foundation and will leverage the current opportunities presented by our deliverables to develop and validate technological solutions for the LEAs. We will increase efficiency and effectiveness of information sharing among EU LEAs. As TRACE will detect IMFs at an early stage, it will help in determining the level of threats; disrupting criminal organisations and the commission of terrorist acts; and enable preventive actions and contribute to the reduction of such flows. Through its engagements with LEAs and dissemination activities, TRACE has already increased knowledge and understanding of innovative tools to counter IMFs. It has also opened gates for LEAs to realising the opportunities associated with AI-driven technologies, systems and practices against IMFs.