In a series of high-profile briefings, ELI’s Executive Director, Andrea Crosta, recently presented critical intelligence on the “Flying Money” (Fei-Chien) system to the United Nations, Canadian authorities, and international financial institutions. His compelling presentation to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) and their Terrorist Financing, Threats, and International Unit revealed how this ancient Chinese informal value transfer system has become a sophisticated tool for environmental criminals worldwide.
So, what exactly is Flying Money? Also known as Fei-Chien, it’s an informal and unregulated money transfer system originally used centuries ago in China. Today, it’s being exploited by Transnational Organized Crime (TOC), money launderers, and trafficking networks, including environmental criminals and wildlife traffickers, to secretly move vast sums of money across borders—without using banks or leaving any trace. This hidden system allows traffickers to pay suppliers, launder profits, and finance operations worldwide, making it incredibly hard for authorities to detect or stop. Understanding and exposing Flying Money is key to cutting off the financial lifelines of those who profit from destroying nature. That’s why ELI’s intelligence work in the field to uncover how this system operates in practice is vital—without it, global efforts to combat environmental crime remain blind to one of its most powerful enablers.
As the only NGO dedicated exclusively to Environmental Crime Convergence, ELI has documented how Chinese nationals operate this shadow system across multiple continents, from Latin America to Southeast Asia, from Europe to the United States. Through intelligence gathering and undercover operations, ELI has uncovered how these financial facilitators enable traffickers to reinvest proceeds from environmental crimes across continents, launder gold throughout Latin America, and create powerful criminal alliances that amplify threats to global security.
By sharing this specialized intelligence with law enforcement and financial institutions worldwide, ELI is shedding light on a highly elusive and poorly understood threat—one that few organizations can access or expose. Thanks to our undercover operations and field investigations, we’re able to provide critical intelligence that would otherwise remain out of reach.
