Anonymous tipsters, angry at Russia, help detect sanctions-busters

Never before have Western economic sanctions proliferated in such numbers. More have been slapped on entities connected to Russia since its invasion of Ukraine on February 24th than had been applied to entities worldwide in the previous decade, says Paul Feldberg, a partner in the London branch of Jenner & Block, a law firm. Big money is at stake. In 2014 America fined bnp Paribas, a bank, nearly $9bn for violating sanctions on Cuba, Iran and Sudan. But governments out to enforce the sanctions, and companies trying to stay on the right side of them, are finding the work devilishly hard. Many of the Russian entities subject to sanctions are much bigger, more complex and more deeply embedded in global business networks than previous targets in, say, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Syria or Venezuela.