The latest investigation from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project landed like a quiet indictment of Washington’s complacency.

Reporters traced over $100 million in U.S. real estate to the sons of Iraqi-Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani. The properties were held through shell companies named after Pirates of the Caribbean characters, financed by offshore accounts and serviced by a Delaware lawyer who paid household bills and luxury purchases through “administrative” accounts.

No one has been charged with a crime — and that is the point. Because every element of the scheme — lawyers forming entities, trusts masking ownership, cash real-estate deals with no financing — largely falls outside U.S. anti-money-laundering law.

The U.S. still exempts lawyers, accountants and real-estate professionals from the Bank Secrecy Act. They are not required to identify clients, monitor transactions or file suspicious-activity reports. They can move millions through limited-liability companies, administer offshore trusts or close cash real-estate deals, all while remaining invisible to regulators.

This isn’t an oversight. It’s deliberate. Every Financial Action Task Force evaluation since

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