Lakshmi Kumar

Policy Director, Global Financial Integrity

Lakshmi Kumar is the Policy Director at Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington, D.C based research and advocacy think tank that specializes in the relationship between illicit financial flows and trade. Ms. Kumar works on issues of illicit finance and trade, and the vehicles, systems and institutions that facilitate movement of illicit money across borders. She has spoken as a subject matter expert on issues including trade based money laundering, kleptocracies,  grand corruption, the abuse of anonymous shell companies and the integrity risks of SWFs in the context of Central Africa. Ms. Kumar has spoken publicly on these subjects at Capitol Hill, the Atlantic Council, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, various other think thanks in D.C., as well as venues in Africa and South America. As a legal expert, she has contributed through her authorship to reports of the United National Economic Commission of Africa, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and has been invited to speak at the OECD on the integrity risks of SWFs.

Prior to joining GFI, Ms. Kumar was a lawyer and policy professional in India, working with governments and regulatory agencies across South Asia, East Africa, and Eurasia to investigate money laundering and terrorist financing risks to their financial systems. Her prior work includes drafting legislation to identify beneficial ownership for the financial sector in India, assessing and evaluating the robustness of the securities market in the Eurasian region for the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering (EAG), and conducting investigations on sovereign wealth funds, procurement procedures, and other off-shore investment entities for fraud and terrorist financing risks. She received a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and a B.A, LL.B from the NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, India.


Linkedin