The art world’s need to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing

The conviction of London-based art dealer, Oghenochuko Ojiri, is significant. He received a sentence of two years and six months, after becoming the first person to be charged with a specific offence under Section 21A of the Terrorism Act 2000.

That particular section relates to the obligation on individuals in the regulated sector to disclose information to law enforcement if they suspect or know that another person has committed or is about to commit a terrorism-related offence.

The details of the case

Ojiri was convicted of eight charges of failing to disclose potential terrorist financing, having failed to declare that he sold artworks worth £140,000 to Nazem Ahmad, who has been sanctioned by the US government since 2019 for giving money to the Lebanese group, Hezbollah.

After a multi-agency investigation, Ojiri found himself being sentenced by Justice Cheema-Grubb, who said the art dealer had been aware the works he had sold were going to Nazem Ahmad. Ojiri’s own legal representatives talked of him having suffered humiliation and the loss of his good name and the work he loves through his undermining of trust in the art market. He had been arrested on the same day the UK government announced its own sanctions against Nazem Ahmad.

Ojiri had said that he had no reason to believe Ahmad was a terrorist and money launderer. Yet a search of his phone showed the art dealer had researched Ahmad’s identity. He knew about him being sanctioned by the US, had been alerted to the dangers of dealing with him by a US business partner and had kept him under a pseudonym in his contacts to obscure his identity. 

The identification details of Ahmad were required for a purchase; however, the identification details of a woman were ultimately submitted. Invoices for the sales were made out to a company and another man, even though Ojiri was aware that Ahmad was the actual buyer. He even congratulated him on the purchase and knew about the suspicions that he was a terrorism financier. The sales were conducted in sterling rather than the usually used US dollars as Ahmad’s sanctioning meant he could not use US dollars. The gallery even used a specialist platform that assists art market businesses with compliance risk assessments. Although Ojiri knew how to carry out suspicious activity reports and risk assessments, none were ever completed on Ahmad.

The wider implications of the case

Ojiri’s downfall received more publicity than may otherwise have been the case because of his appearances as an art expert on TV programmes such as Bargain Hunt. But his case is worthy of attention for more off-camera reasons. His conviction highlights the fact that the art market is one of the most structurally vulnerable sectors from an anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/ CFT) perspective.