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In this episode of Compliance Champions, Delphine Forma, Head of Policy at Solidus Labs, speaks with Toms Platacis, Head of Latvia's Financial Intelligence Unit and Head of Delegation to both MONEYVAL and FATF — one of Europe's most experienced financial intelligence authorities and a leading voice in the global AML/CFT community.
They explore how financial crime has evolved in practice — how funds now move fluidly across banks, payment providers, crypto exchanges, self-hosted wallets, money mules, and DeFi protocols, and what that means for how FIUs investigate, coordinate, and share intelligence. Toms shares concrete typologies and real investigative examples that illustrate how the threat landscape is shifting, including the most common crypto-related money laundering and sanctions circumvention patterns Latvia is seeing on the ground today.
The conversation goes deep on digital assets — addressing the persistent misconception that crypto is the criminal's tool of choice, and exploring cases where blockchain transparency has actually made investigators' work easier rather than harder. They also tackle DeFi, including Latvia's practical approach to arrangements that present as decentralised but involve identifiable controlling parties, and whether DeFi is already featuring in live investigations.
Rounding out the episode: how Latvia's strong public-private partnership model works and why it matters, how international FIU cooperation functions in practice, and what it meant for Latvia to be the first country assessed under FATF's new mutual evaluation methodology — with hard-won advice for any authority preparing for their own evaluation.
A frank, experience-led conversation for compliance professionals, financial crime investigators, and policymakers who want to understand what effective financial intelligence really looks like — and where the fight against financial crime is heading next.
