The Night Manager (2016)
Trade-Based Money Laundering Used to Conceal Corrupt Arms Deal
The Night Manager, the six-part espionage series, leads off in Cairo with a former British army soldier, Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston), serving as a luxury hotel night manager. Subsequently, Pine or Jack Lindon or Thomas Quince or, as he is finally known as, Andrew Burch, bounces through Zermatt, Devon, London, Mallorca, Monaco, Marrakech, Istanbul, and the Syrian desert, among others, serving as an informant for Angela Burr (Olivia Colman), an agent for the International Enforcement Agency (IEA) in London, tracking an international arms dealer.
Part revenge story of Pine’s murdered hotel guest, Sophie Alaken (Aure Atika), at the hands of her known arms dealer boyfriend, Freddie Hamid (David Avery), and part stopping the use of military weapons getting into the hands of the wrong people. Pine realizes a central figure in the middle of the murder and the arms deal is Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie), the CEO of Ironlast Limited, which acts as a cover for his back dealing in the arms trade.
In Episode 103, Pine infiltrates Roper’s organization, much to the behest of one of Roper’s close confidants, Lance Corkoran (Tom Hollander). Pine obtains bank statements and incorporation documents from Roper’s private office in the name of Tradepass, which indicate significant purchases for agricultural equipment, code names of persons involved, and two large payments to a ‘Halo’ and a ‘Felix.’
Unbeknownst to Roper that Pine is aware of Tradepass, Roper provides Pine with a new identity, Andrew Burch. Roper assigns 100% of Tradepass to Burch, as the former owner, a Spanish lawyer closer to Roper had been removed from his post, with Pine signing as Burch and Roper having a servant at his home serve as the unknowing witness. Subsequently, in Episode 104, Roper explains his craft on setting up Tradepass as a front company with a strawman, namely, Burch.
A front company is a legal entity that may or may not be engaged in ongoing business activities. In part, the company may be a shell with no real activities or purpose. On the other hand, the company can be engaged in real business activities, however, the illicit activity is commingled behind the scenes, whether physically or digitally.
A strawman, also known as a nominee, is a third party acting on behalf of the owner or controller of an entity. The role of the strawman is to conceal the identity of the actual owner or controller. Here, Roper puts Burch as the face of Tradepass as owner and signing authority, however, Roper is the person running everything for Tradepass. In the scheme, Roper promises his ‘investors’ he has a sharp guy in Burch and he will double their money in four months. He set up Tradepass as a registered company in Cyprus with a bank in Geneva. Roper states “No questions asked, no accounts to be filed.” The investors don’t know what they are selling, they don’t care either, they just care about their money and no one wants to know where the money comes from.
Concurrently, Burr uncovers the identities of Halo and Felix, in a clear government corruption scandal to suppress her investigation, and assists Roper with his arms deal. While Pine, as sole owner of Tradepass and its accounts, diverts the arms sale proceeds ($300M) out of the account and destroys the convoy of arms, leaving Roper with no recourse to the buyer to return the funds or the arms. The buyer is not too pleased, demanding his money back, however, Roper is placed under arrest by Egyptian police…sort of.
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