How does Adverse Media checks work for individuals? What types of activities/crimes are monitored?
Adverse Media checks are on individual "Special Interest Person" (SIP) reported in licensed sources as implicated in specific types of criminal activity
SIP content set contains profiles of individuals formally accused of, arrested for or convicted of serious crime within seven categories:
- Corruption
- Financial Crime
- Trafficking
- Organised Crime
- Terror
- Tax Crime
- Child Sexual Exploitation*
The aim of this coverage, which extends back to 2000, is to include those individuals who are prominent in the news from licensed publications on Factiva owing to their reported association with the seven crime categories.
Dow Jones researchers monitor licensed Factiva publications to identify individuals to be included in these categories and write short profiles outlining the case against the individuals and providing details of the news articles from Factiva containing the information. A Politically Exposed Person can also be categorised to the above crime types as a Special Interest Person if there are news articles on Factiva linking the individual to a particular crime.
Watchlist will consider assigning SIP status to anyone who has formally been declared wanted for an offence pertaining to one or more of the crime categories; has been charged with and/or arrested on suspicion of such a crime; or has been tried/convicted/sentenced with regard to such a crime.
Watchlist does not regard rumours or allegations that are not substantiated in formal legal proceedings as sufficient basis for assigning SIP status to an individual.
Only criminal cases are covered; civil cases and lawsuits are not included.
The crime categories can be defined as follows:
● Corruption covers cases where those in a public position have allegedly abused that position and are reported to have been arrested on suspicion of, charged with or convicted of corrupt activities. Such cases might typically involve allegations of bribery, kickbacks or breach of trust. The category covers those involved in scandals such as Lava Jato (Car Wash) in Brazil and also features various current and former heads of state, for example Silvio Berlusconi of Italy and Park Geun-hye of South Korea.
● Financial Crime covers activities such as fraud, theft, money laundering and tax evasion. The reported criminal activity may be of the same type as that in the Corruption category but is committed by private individuals rather than people in public positions. Sanctions evasion is included in this category.
● Trafficking covers the illegal trafficking or smuggling of narcotics, firearms, people, wildlife or commodities such as diamonds.
● Organised Crime covers crime reported as being carried out by criminal gangs and organisations. ● Terror contains individuals arrested on suspicion of, charged with or convicted of acts relating to terrorism. The category covers those associated with or inspired by known, established or significant terrorist organisations, although not necessarily acting directly on their behalf. Coverage includes financing of terrorist acts or organisations.
● Tax Crime, which was introduced in April 2014, is applied to individuals who are reported to have committed a tax-related offence. The category covers offences such as tax fraud and tax evasion. It is never used on its own and is always applied in conjunction with another category.
● *Child Sexual Exploitation cases are covered under Special Interest Person – Lower Threshold (SIP LT) as a default.
Only when an individual has been implicated in cases involving other SIP crimes types and those are above the corresponding monetary threshold will profiles fall under Special Interest Person (SIP).
SIP coverage is designed to capture serious or high-level cases. Where possible, coverage is based on the financial value of the reported offence. The financial value – or threshold – at or above which a case is covered varies from country to country. For example, fraud involving the equivalent of just a few thousand dollars may be relatively as serious in one country as fraud involving billions of dollars in another. In the same way, the seriousness of narcotics offences and the volumes of narcotics involved in those offences may vary widely from country to country, but the relative gravity of the offences and the severity with which they are dealt may be similar. Therefore, where there is a financial aspect to the reported crime, coverage is determined by the sums involved, with SIP profiles being given to those individuals involved in crimes above a certain financial threshold.
Geographical coverage of SIP content
Coverage of Corruption, Financial Crime, Organised Crime, Trafficking and Tax Crime is available for the following countries:
● Canada
● United States
● Afghanistan
● Bangladesh
● Bhutan
● British Indian Ocean Territory
● Brunei
● Cambodia
● China
● East Timor/Timor Leste
● Hong Kong
● India
● Indonesia
● Japan
● Laos
● Macau
● Malaysia
● Maldives
● Mongolia
● Myanmar
● Nepal
● North Korea
● Pakistan
● Philippines
● Singapore
● South Korea
● Sri Lanka
● Taiwan
● Thailand
● United Arab Emirates
● Vietnam
Coverage of Child Sexual Exploitation cases is global.