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Reputation laundering occurs when a person or an organization conceals unethical, corrupt, or criminal behavior by performing highly-visible positive actions with the intent to improve their reputation and obscure their history. Reputation laundering can include gestures such as donating to charities, sponsoring sports teams, or joining prominent associations.


Origin of the term

One of the first uses of the phrase "reputation laundering" was in 1996, in the book ''The United Nations and Transnational Organized Crime'', which defined it as "the process of acquiring respectability in a new environment". An early use of the phrase in mass media was in 2010, in a
Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unite ...
article headlined "PR firms make London world capital of reputation laundering", a report which focused on the use of
public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...
(PR) firms by heads of state (including
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
,
Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...
,
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
, and
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
) to obscure human rights abuses and corruption. The phrase was in common use by 2016 when it was used by
Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...
in their report "Paradise Lost: Ending the UK’s role as a safe haven for corrupt individuals, their allies and assets". In that report, they defined reputation laundering as "the process of concealing the corrupt actions, past or present, of an individual, government or corporate entity, and presenting their character and behaviour in a positive light." The phrase "reputation laundering" is a
play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...
on the older phrase "
money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...
".


Activities associated with reputation laundering

According to Transparency International, reputation laundering may include activities such as: * Using public relations companies * Developing political connections to influence governments * Hiring law firms to combat allegations related to past unethical conduct * Donating to cultural, charitable, and educational organizations * Sending children to elite schools * Investing in prestigious sports teams * Sponsoring major sporting or entertainment events * Buying highly-visible luxury real estate * Hiring consultants to enhance their image


Public relation firms

Reputation laundering activities are sometimes delegated to professional public relations (PR) firms. Techniques employed by PR firms on behalf of the purportedly corrupt or criminal customers include fake social media accounts, blogs by fake personalities, or partisan op-eds. The British public relations firm
Bell Pottinger Bell Pottinger Private (legally BPP Communications Ltd.) was a British multinational public relations, reputation management and marketing company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. On 12 September 2017 it went into administration (bankr ...
is noted for using PR techniques for reputation laundering, supporting clients such as
Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (as transliterated from Russian language, Russian; also transliterated from Belarusian language, Belarusian as Alyaksand(a)r Ryhoravich Lukashenka;, ; rus, Александр Григорьевич Лука ...
,
Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
, and the Pinochet Foundation.


Sports

Involvement in professional sports, by sponsorship or ownership, is a prominent activity used for reputation laundering. Examples include the creation of
Formula 1 Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
car races in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, ownership of
Chelsea F.C. Chelsea Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, West London. Founded in 1905, they play their home games at Stamford Bridge. The club competes in the Premier League, the top division of English football ...
by
Roman Abramovich Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich (, ; he, רומן ארקדיביץ' אברמוביץ'; born 24 October 1966) is a Russian Russian oligarchs, oligarch and politician. He is the former owner of Chelsea F.C., Chelsea, a Premier League football club ...
, and ownership of the
Newcastle United football club Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...
by Saudi Arabian investors.


Charity

Reputation laundering often involves charitable donations from the persons attempting to improve their reputation. One study found that Russian oligarchs had donated between $372 million and $435 million to charitable institutions in the United States."How Russia’s Oligarchs Laundered Their Reputations in the West", Casey Michel, Apr. 1, 2022, New York Magazine, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/04/will-oligarchs-reputation-laundering-face-a-reckoning.html Charities and non-profits that received funds, according to a database compiled by David Szakonyi and Casey Michel include
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
,
Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pro ...
,
Mayo Clinic The Mayo Clinic () is a nonprofit American academic medical center focused on integrated health care, education, and research. It employs over 4,500 physicians and scientists, along with another 58,400 administrative and allied health staff, ...
,
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...
,
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...
,
Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in ec ...
,
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, and the New York Museum of Modern Art."To sanction Russian oligarchs, the first step is finding their money", Dante Chinni, March 13, 2022, NBC News, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/sanction-russian-oligarchs-first-step-finding-their-money-n1291774 The
Sackler family The Sackler family is an American family who founded and owned the pharmaceutical companies Purdue Pharma and Mundipharma. Purdue Pharma, and some members of the family, have faced lawsuits regarding overprescription of addictive pharmaceutical d ...
is particularly notable for its charitable donations that aim to repair their reputation, which was heavily damaged by their role in the
opioid crisis The opioid epidemic, also referred to as the opioid crisis, is the rapid increase in the overuse, misuse/abuse, and overdose deaths attributed either in part or in whole to the class of drugs opiates/opioids since the 1990s. It includes the sign ...
. Since 2009, the family has donated over £170m to art institutions in the United Kingdom."Patrick Radden Keefe on exposing the Sackler family’s links to the opioid crisis", Sean O'Hagan, 27 Feb 2022, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/27/empire-of-pain-patrick-radden-keefe-sackler-opioid-crisis-oxycontin The family's philanthropy has been characterized as "reputation laundering" from profits acquired from the selling of opiates. The Sackler family name, as used in institutions which the family have donated to, saw increased scrutiny in the late 2010s over the family's association with OxyContin. David Crow, writing in the ''Financial Times'', described the family name as "tainted" (''cf.'' Tainted donors). In March 2019, the National Portrait Gallery and the
Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
galleries announced that they would not accept further donations from the family. This came after the American photographer
Nan Goldin Nancy Goldin (born September 12, 1953) is an American photographer and activist. Her work often explores LGBT subcultures, moments of intimacy, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the opioid epidemic. Her most notable work is '' The Ballad of Sexual Depe ...
threatened to withdraw a planned retrospective of her work in the National Portrait Gallery if the gallery accepted a £1 million donation from a Sackler fund. In June 2019,
NYU Langone Medical Center NYU Langone Health is an academic medical center located in New York City, New York, United States. The health system consists of NYU Grossman School of Medicine and NYU Long Island School of Medicine, both part of New York University (NYU), and m ...
announced they will no longer be accepting donations from the Sacklers, and have since changed the name of the
Sackler Institute of Graduate Biomedical Sciences The Vilcek Institute of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at the NYU School of Medicine is a division of the Graduate School of Arts and Science of New York University, leading to the Ph.D. degree and, in coordination with the Medical Scientist Trainin ...
to the Vilcek Institute of Graduate Biomedical Sciences. Later in 2019, the
American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...
, and the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...
and
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
in New York, each announced they will not accept future donations from any Sacklers that were involved in Purdue Pharma. In 2022, the British Museum announced that it would rename the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Rooms and the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Wing, as part of "development of the new masterplan", and that it "made this decision together through collaborative discussions" with the Sackler Foundation. Prior to the collapse of his
cryptocurrency A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. It i ...
, FTT, entrepreneur
Sam Bankman-Fried Samuel Benjamin Bankman-Fried (born March 6, 1992), also known by the initialism SBF, is an American suspected fraudster, entrepreneur, investor, and former billionaire. Bankman-Fried was the founder and CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX ...
did not have known wrong doing to launder, but is alleged to have used (among other means) “a value system of utilitarian idealism ... not orientated toward money" -- for example promising to give away 99 percent of his fortune -- which led to investors letting "down their due diligence guard.”


Collaborating with media

Alex Shephard, writing in the New Republic, asserts that general
Mark Milley Mark Alexander Milley (born June 20, 1958) is a United States Army general who serves as the 20th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He previously served as the 39th chief of staff of the Army from August 14, 2015 to August 9, 2019, and hel ...
- chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...
- engaged in self-beneficial reputation laundering when he acted as a primary source for news media, providing media with inside accounts of events in the Trump White House. Alex Shephard, July 16, 2021, The New Republic, "The Generals Won’t Save Democracy" https://newrepublic.com/article/162994/generals-wont-save-democracy Milley's intention, according to some analysts, was to prompt major media outlets to rehabilitate his reputation (tainted by the association with the Trump administration) and in exchange, Milley provided insider information to the media."On Mark Milley, Stephanie Grisham, reputation laundering, and complicity", Jon Allsop, 29 September 2021, Columbia Journalism Review, https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/milley_grisham_books_trump.php Arwa Mahdawi, columnist for The Guardian, characterized
Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 198 ...
's appearance on
The Masked Singer ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
as reputation laundering. "Lied and need your reputation laundered? Just go on a reality TV show", Arwa Mahdawi, 5 Feb 2022, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/05/rudy-giuliani-the-masked-singer-week-in-patriarchy


Russian Oligarchs

The
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
government generated a report in 2020, analyzing the activities of
Russian oligarchs Russian oligarchs (Russian: олигархи, romanized: ''oligarkhi'') are business oligarchs of the former Soviet republics who rapidly accumulated wealth in the 1990s via the Russian privatisation that followed the dissolution of the Soviet ...
in the United Kingdom."Government response to Intelligence and Security Committee Russia Report" 21 July 2020 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-response-to-intelligence-and-security-committee-russia-report The report states that the oligarchs had been “extending patronage and building influence across a wide sphere of the British establishment” and had employed public relations firms that were “willing beneficiaries, contributing to a ‘reputation laundering’ process”. "British accountants and PR firms told to cut Russia ties", Daniel Thomas, 4 May 2022, The Financial Times, https://www.ft.com/content/f79e55e7-dd07-4fab-b7b8-fa2991a4c4d0 A notable example of Russian oligarchs participating in reputation laundering is
Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor (russian: link=no, Вячеслав Моше Кантор, born on September 8, 1953 in Moscow) is a Russian businessman and philanthropist who has close ties to the Vladimir Putin regime in Russia. Kantor heads the Acro ...
, who donated £9 million to King Edward VII's Hospital, a facility used by the UK
royal family A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/ rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term ...
and patronized by the queen. The donation came under scrutiny after Kantor was placed under sanctions during the
2022 invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
, and the hospital removed Kantor's name from a wing of the hospital."Inquiry Into Oligarch’s Charity Which Donated to Royal Hospital", William Janes, April 23, 2022, Bloomberg News, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-23/inquiry-into-oligarch-s-charity-which-donated-to-royal-hospital


See also

* Ethics of philanthropy#Tainted donors *
Greenwashing Greenwashing (a compound word modeled on "whitewash"), also called "green sheen", is a form of advertising or marketing spin in which green PR and green marketing are deceptively used to persuade the public that an organization's products, aims ...
*
Money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...
*
Reputation management Reputation management, originally a public relations term, refers to the influencing, controlling, enhancing, or concealing of an individual's or group's reputation. The growth of the internet and social media led to growth of reputation managem ...


Footnotes

{{Reflist


References

* "On Mark Milley, Stephanie Grisham, reputation laundering, and complicity", Jon Allsop, 29 September 2021, Columbia Journalism Review, https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/milley_grisham_books_trump.php * "'Reputation laundering' is lucrative business for London PR firms", Mark Sweney, 5 Sep 2017, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/sep/05/reputation-laundering-is-lucrative-business-for-london-pr-firms?msclkid=503c1c0ad13c11ecaafef7f9a6665b7d * "'It's shameful': Russian-linked billionaires have given enormous sums of money to the West's leading educational and cultural institutions", Majlie de Puy Kamp and Isabelle Chapman, 11 May 2022 CNN, https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/11/us/russian-oligarchs-philanthropy-ukraine-war-invs/index.html * "The Reputation-Laundering Firm That Ruined Its Own Reputation", Ed Caesar, June 25, 2018 New Yorker Magazine, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/06/25/the-reputation-laundering-firm-that-ruined-its-own-reputation?msclkid=9e72c7e6d15911ec89233f69f8cb693a * "How Russia’s Oligarchs Laundered Their Reputations in the West", Casey Michel, Apr. 1, 2022, New York Magazine, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/04/will-oligarchs-reputation-laundering-face-a-reckoning.html?msclkid=c8ef40b8d15911ec85f1f35c0e173fcb * "British accountants and PR firms told to cut Russia ties", Daniel Thomas, 4 May 2022, The Financial Times, https://www.ft.com/content/f79e55e7-dd07-4fab-b7b8-fa2991a4c4d0 * "Inquiry Into Oligarch’s Charity Which Donated to Royal Hospital", William Janes, April 23, 2022, Bloomberg News, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-23/inquiry-into-oligarch-s-charity-which-donated-to-royal-hospital * "Lied and need your reputation laundered? Just go on a reality TV show", Arwa Mahdawi, 5 Feb 2022, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/05/rudy-giuliani-the-masked-singer-week-in-patriarchy * "Patrick Radden Keefe on exposing the Sackler family’s links to the opioid crisis", Sean O'Hagan, 27 Feb 2022, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/27/empire-of-pain-patrick-radden-keefe-sackler-opioid-crisis-oxycontin * ''Empire of Pain '' Patrick Radden Keefe, April 13, 2021, Doubleday, ISBN 978-0-385-54568-6 * ''American Kleptocracy: How the U.S. Created the World's Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History'', Casey Michel November 23, 2021, ‎ St. Martin's Press ISBN‎ 1250274524 Reputation management Public relations techniques