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Understanding Cross Border Money Laundering Through Shell Structures

A concept course for senior forensic auditors, chief compliance officers and financial crime investigators who need to understand shell structures from the inside. It takes apart the corporate vehicles that launderers use, from shell and front companies to nominee directors, trusts and layered holding chains in conduit jurisdictions, and shows how money actually crosses India's border through round tripping on the FDI and overseas investment routes, trade mispricing, hawala and back-to-back credit arrangements. You then work through the Indian legal net of the PMLA, FEMA, the Black Money Act and the Benami law, the beneficial ownership and layering rules under the Companies Act, and what the government and SEBI shell company crackdowns revealed. The second half is investigative: mapping ownership chains with public data, tracing fund flows across jurisdictions, reading related party disclosures for red flags and obtaining evidence from abroad. It closes with Indian case files and the detection controls an institution needs against shell structure risk.

Shell CompaniesCross Border Money LaunderingBeneficial OwnershipRound TrippingPMLA and FEMAOffshore StructuresForensic Investigation

MODULES

6

DURATION

4 Hours

TRACK

Forensic Accounting & Compliance

What You'll Master

Distinguish shell, shelf, front and conduit companies and explain why each appeals to launderers

Map the placement, layering and integration stages onto specific offshore vehicles, trusts and holding chains

Trace how illicit money crosses India's border through round tripping, trade mispricing, hawala and back-to-back credit

Apply the PMLA, FEMA, the Black Money Act and the beneficial ownership and layering rules to a suspicious structure

Map an ownership chain and reconstruct cross-border fund flows using MCA filings, exchange disclosures and offshore leak databases

Spot shell structure red flags in financial statements and related party disclosures

Design institutional detection controls for shell structure risk and understand how evidence is obtained from abroad

Access Level

LEARNER

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Everything included

Full Text Playbooks

Actionable Exercises

Mobile Reading Mode

Lifetime Updates

Curriculum Breakdown

Chapter 1: Anatomy of a Shell Structure

3 Lessons

Why Shell Companies Exist: Legitimate Uses and Criminal Abuse12 min read

Placement, Layering and Integration Mapped to Corporate Vehicles13 min read

Shell, Shelf, Front and Conduit Companies: Telling Them Apart12 min read

Chapter 2: The Offshore Toolkit

3 Lessons

Secrecy Jurisdictions, Nominee Directors and Bearer Instruments13 min read

Trusts, Foundations and Layered Holding Chains14 min read

Conduit Jurisdictions, Free Zones and Treaty Routes Into India14 min read

Chapter 3: How Money Crosses the Border

4 Lessons

Round Tripping Through the FDI and Overseas Investment Routes14 min read

Trade Mispricing and Import Advance Remittances14 min read

Hawala, Angadia and Informal Value Transfer Alongside Shells13 min read

Back-to-Back Loans, Guarantees and Letters of Undertaking13 min read

Chapter 4: The Indian Legal and Regulatory Net

4 Lessons

PMLA, FEMA, the Black Money Act and the Benami Law: Which Law Bites Where15 min read

Beneficial Ownership Rules: SBO Disclosure, Layering Limits and KYC14 min read

What the Shell Company Crackdowns Revealed13 min read

Opaque Foreign Investors in Listed Markets and the FPI Disclosure Rules14 min read

Chapter 5: Investigating Shell Structures

4 Lessons

Mapping Ownership Chains With Public Data15 min read

Following the Money: Cross-Border Fund Flow Analysis15 min read

Red Flags in Financial Statements and Related Party Disclosures14 min read

Getting Evidence From Abroad: MLATs, Letters Rogatory and Information Exchange13 min read

Chapter 6: Case Files and the Institutional Response

4 Lessons

Case File: The Bank of Baroda Import Advance Remittances14 min read

Case File: The PNB Letters of Undertaking and the Overseas Entities14 min read

Building Detection Controls for Shell Structure Risk14 min read

Where Shell Structure Laundering Is Heading12 min read