Using data from Companies House and more than 50 corruption and money laundering cases, this paper sets out the likely scale of abuse of Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) in high-level white-collar crime.

It builds on our previous work, and that of others, investigating the involvement of UK legal entities in financial crime. While this is a problem well documented in exposés by journalists and recognised by the government, its extent remained unknown. Until now.

Our analysis of all 146,948 LLPs incorporated between April 2001 and September 2021 reveals 21,002 (14 per cent) showed three or more money laundering red flags.

Russia’s war on Ukraine, its impact on our economy, and the use of LLPs and other UK legal entities to skirt sanctions, demand a renewed impetus for expedited reform.