Women in Anti-Financial Crime—A Global Phenomenon

There are many courageous women throughout the world striving to ensure justice, equality and the protection of human rights as they fight against financial crime. The following is a snapshot demonstrating exceptional courage and dedication by professional women—not only in their respective countries but beyond. Their activities show the importance of the continuous fight against crime.

Daria Kaleniuk

Daria Kaleniuk is a Ukrainian civil society activist who has played a key role in advocating for anti-corruption reforms in Ukraine, including the establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the implementation of electronic asset declarations for public officials. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, she has shifted her focus from anti-corruption to the importance for democracies to fend off autocratic assaults and attacks from oligarchs and companies who profit from funneling funds into the war.¹

Khadija Ismayilova

Khadija Ismayilova is an Azerbaijani investigative journalist known for her courageous reporting on corruption within Azerbaijan’s ruling elite. Working with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, she has exposed significant financial crimes, including embezzlement and money laundering within the regime of President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan. Ismayilova also worked with Swedish Television to uncover the close ties between the ruling elite and the Swedish telecom company TeliaSonera. Ismayilova was detained in Baku in 2014 for 18 months on what are widely believed to be politically motivated charges. Her arrest has been condemned by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other international organizations.²

Anne Brorhilker

Anne Brorhilker, a German prosecutor is renowned for her extensive investigations into the CumEx tax fraud scandal. Often described as the largest tax heist in German history, the scandal centered on multiple illegal refund claims of withholding taxes on dividend payments, costing European governments (especially Germany) billions of euros in lost tax revenue. Between 2013 and 2023, she led numerous raids and legal actions against individuals and institutions involved in these complex tax evasion schemes. In April 2024, she resigned from her position due to concerns over insufficient resources in the judiciary to effectively combat financial crime. Since then, she has been working for the consumer financial lobby group Finanzwende as managing director.³

Éliane Houlette

Éliane Houlette was a French magistrate before retiring in 2019 after having spent most of her career in the public prosecutor’s office. As the first chief of the Parquet National Financier (PNF), she oversaw major investigations and helped establish the PNF as a central force in holding individuals and institutions accountable for economic and financial misconduct. Her legacy influences the continued work of the PNF and other French legal bodies dedicated to enforcing financial integrity. Between 2014 and 2019, she was the financial public prosecutor in charge of investigating the scandal implicating the former French prime minister, François Fillon, and his wife. Fillon was found guilty of embezzlement of public funds and sentenced to five years in prison, three of which were suspended.⁴

Ilda Boccassini

Ilda Boccassini, an Italian magistrate renowned for her relentless pursuit of organized crime, worked closely with famed anti-Mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. She played a pivotal role in prosecuting high-profile cases, including those against former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, for corruption and his association with the Mafia.

Her first major case was the Duomo Connection investigation, in which she and Falcone prosecuted Mafia connections in northern Italy.⁵ She was appointed deputy public prosecutor of the Court of Milan in 2009 where she was involved in the proceedings during the 2011–2013 trial against then-incumbent Prime Minister Berlusconi.⁶ Boccassini retired in 2019. In 2021, Boccassini published a book about her career, La Stanza Numero 30 (Room Number 30).⁷

Flor de Maria Vega Zapata

Flor de Maria Vega Zapata is Peru’s national coordinator for environmental prosecutors, leading a team that investigates and prosecutes transnational criminal organizations that are active in illegal mining and illegal logging. Illegal gold mining in Peru has led to the growth of a clan-based criminal ecosystem that undermines the rule of law through corruption, facilitates human trafficking (HT) and destroys natural resources. It is also a main cause of biodiversity loss in the Peruvian Amazon, creating health issues amongst the locals. Zapata succeeded in filing 500 cases against illegal miners in 2016 alone, leading to the first convictions of illegal mining in 2019. Her team investigated and seized $1.6 million dollars in illegal timber, the largest illegal logging shipment in Peru’s history. Her work on the illegal logging case proved to be a watershed moment in Peru’s fight against this crime. She was recognized with the International Women of Courage Award in 2019.⁸

Alika Kinan

Alika Kinan is a survivor of HT who works on the investigation of the crimes of HT and exploitation. The aim of her work is to improve the processes of the analysis, formulation, development and application of legislation and public policies.⁹ Among her main achievements is winning the first trial in Argentina where the victim, after being rescued from 16 years of sexual slavery, became a plaintiff to litigate against her traffickers. The U.S. Department of State honored her with the Hero Acting to End Modern Slavery Award in 2017 for her anti-trafficking activism.¹⁰

Sunitha Krishnan

Sunitha Krishnan is an Indian social activist and co-founder of Prajwala, a nongovernmental organization that rescues, rehabilitates and reintegrates sex-trafficked victims into society. She is an advisor to several state governments to develop holistic victim services and also plays an important role in the Inter-Ministerial Committee at the national level by drafting comprehensive legislation on HT. She was honored with the fourth-highest civilian honor, the Padmashree, in 2016.¹¹

Conclusion

This article underscores a powerful common thread that connects the work of these diverse women from around the globe, who have taken great risks to protect the rule of law, promote transparency and safeguard human rights. Whether it is taking on corrupt regimes, pursuing high-profile financial criminals, defending environmental resources or advocating for survivors of HT, each of these professionals has demonstrated perseverance and courage in their drive for a better world. Their fight against anti-financial crime (AFC) and human rights violations, which is critically important but often dangerous, can only be done with the support of AFC professionals championing these activities that ultimately protect our societies and democratic values.

Jennifer Hanley-Giersch, CAMS-Audit, managing partner, Berlin Risk Advisors GmbH,