Corruption in Paradise: An ecology of money laundering through real estate in the touristic Global South

Real estate is a significant asset class and a primary vehicle for money laundering. While knowledge products and policy options emerged in London, Vancouver, or the United States’s major cities, there is little data, knowledge, and locally anchored policy solutions for the municipalities in the Global South. This project looks at the ecology of the sector as it exists in major cities and touristic areas in East Africa, Indo-Pacific, and South America. Specifically, tThis project aims to investigate how six cities/regions from Brazil (São Paulo City and Santa Catarina state’s northern coast), Kenya (Nairobi and Mombasa), and Indonesia (Jakarta and Bali province) address illicit finance in the real estate market. Numerous professionals are involved in property commercialization and registration, particularly in the Global South, where rapid urban growth generates distinct dynamics and ecosystem formations compared to Global North contexts. From these professionals' perspective, we analyze the challenges they face, the conditions contributing to successes and failures in this industry, and the practices, laws, and policies that could help decouple real estate from illicit finance.