E176: Are Pokémon Cards fincrime’s hottest new toy?

$190,000 of trading cards stolen in Tokyo with a hammer. One card sold at auction for $16.5 million.

Somewhere between those two facts is the reason a children's card game became one of the most portable stores of value on the planet.

We're talking about Pokémon: the Japanese phenomenon that has hooked generations of collectors. The game that told children to "Catch 'Em All" now has a much darker following.

Our expert host, Robin Lycka, is joined by Paolo Aprile, Founder of DM Dirty Money, and Nick Jarman, Founder & CEO of Certified Trading Card Association, to ask: "Are Pokémon Cards fincrime’s hottest new toy?"

The panel discuss: how a simple, fun card game turned into something else entirely, and what happens when a whole market sits outside every AML rulebook on earth.

Producer: Lois Dunford

Executive Producer: Matthew Dunne-Miles

Editor: Dominic Delargy

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The Laundry connects anti-money laundering, compliance and financial crime to the real world — the headlines, the regulation behind them, and what non-compliance actually costs.

Hosted by Marit Rødevand, Fredrik Riiser and Robin Lycka, each episode brings on practitioners from banking, fintech, regulators and investigative journalism to unpack what's actually happening in the industry.