S&D E39: Sanctions, Crypto and the Enforcement Gap

Jason Sandoval speaks with Dr Jessica Davis, former analyst for FINTRAC and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), about what happens between spotting illicit crypto and actually seizing it. Drawing on her years inside Canadian intelligence, Jessica explains where cases stall after detection, why the money only tells part of the story, and what a win looks like when crypto can move in minutes.

⏱️ Timestamps

05:15 – watching versus seizing

09:50 – three state playbooks for crypto

16:30 – how criminal liquidity helped states

18:40 – FINTRAC’s mandate and OTC cash-out desks

31:45 – financial intelligence and intent

40:50 – what counterterrorist financing achieves

44:30 – timely disruption and the speed of money

👤 About Our Guest

Dr Jessica Davis is President and Principal Consultant at Insight Threat Intelligence, researching how Iran, Russia, North Korea, China and Venezuela use crypto to evade sanctions. She spent 17 years in Canadian security and intelligence, including at FINTRAC and as a threat financing analyst at CSIS, and is the author of Illicit Money.

🔑 Key Takeaways

Watching and Seizing Work Together

Every disruption displaces a network, and following what comes next reveals where it goes.

Detection Is Not the Bottleneck

Suspicious crypto activity is often flagged, but without dedicated investigators on the receiving end, disclosures rarely become seizures.

Integrate the Financial Investigation

The money only makes sense alongside the human and technical intelligence, not in a parallel workstream.

Money Reveals Intent

Financial intelligence can distinguish between people who plan to act and those who only talk.

Smaller Flows Are Real Wins

Reducing the money available for terrorism and sanctions evasion is a success in its own right.

📚 Resources Mentioned

• Jessica Davis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmdottawa
• Insight Threat Intelligence: https://www.insightthreatintel.com
• Illicit Money: Financing Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Davis: https://amzn.eu/d/0feNbpsL

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