Virtual Economies and Financial Crime

Book excerpt: Virtual economies and financial crime are ever-growing, increasingly significant facets to banking, finance and anti-money laundering regulations on an international scale. In this pathbreaking and timely book, these two important issues are explored together for the first time in the same place. Clare Chambers-Jones examines the jurisprudential elements of cyber law in the context of virtual economic crime and explains how virtual economic crime can take place in virtual worlds. She looks at the multi-layered and interconnected issues association with the increasing trend of global and virtual banking via the 'Second Life' MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Game). Through this fascinating case study, the author illustrates how virtual worlds have created a second virtual economy which transgresses into the real, creating economic, political and social issues. Loopholes used by criminals to launder money through virtual worlds (given the lack of jurisdictional consensus on detection and prosecution) are also highlighted. The importance of providing legal clarity over jurisdictional matters in cyberspace is an increasing concern for policymakers and regulators, and this book provides a wealth of information on new aspects of cyber law and virtual economics. As such, it will prove essential reading for academics, students, researchers and policymakers across the fields of law generally, and more specifically, financial law and regulation, finance, money and banking, and economic crime.