Ethics 360 is a group of companies that has or has had business interests in Anti-Money Laundering, Immigration Screening and Anti-Bribery education and training. Headquartered in Singapore we have spent over a decade developing various databases and research services for governments and multinationals. Some of this data we believe could be of value in the fight against human trafficking and as such we are making it available to all interested parties through FreedomNow.org. FreedomNow will always be a non-commercial site and all costs related to its maintenance and operation will be born by the Ethics 360 Group.

The principal goal of this site is to collect and disseminate freely to all detailed information on convicted Human Traffickers and then make this available to governments, banks and anti-money laundering (AML) data providers around the world.

Utilizing the same AML global infrastructure put in place post 9/11 we believe that governments have the capacity now to stop human traffickers in the same way as they have successfully tackled terrorism - by going after the finances of the individuals and syndicates globally. More information on this aspect can be found on our Anti Money Laundering Program page.

A second goal of the site is to identify and investigate agents and the tools used by them to facilitate illegal immigration and in particular fake documentation. Where possible tools will be provided to assist governments identify these documents (e.g. Diploma Mills database) and where not provide information and education on the rampant use of fake and government attested documentation and report these to relevant government agencies.

We will achieve this by creating a site that has valuable information for all relevant stakeholders, be they policy makers, law enforcement, NGO's, banks or victims. By creating such a site all parties will have access to a 360 degree view on this problem and the many innovative ways that are being used to combat this around the world.

An active community will allow us to get the required information on those convicted of trafficking crimes and then let the system already in place do the rest. It will also allow all community members to share information on successful campaigns around the world.

About the Ethics 360 Group of Companies

It was Hong Kong in 2000 when the Ethics 360 team started their first background screening business named Quest Research. Quest Research, focused on background checks, eventually grew to employ some 600 people in ten offices around Asia. It had several hundred multinational clients. By 2005 it was conducting over 10,000 verifications each month across Asia and identifying fraudulent resumes at the rate of around 3% of those checked. In 2005 the Quest Research Group was acquired by First Advantage, a NASDAQ listed company.

The same group of founders started a unique due diligence and Know Your Client anti-money laundering service. This has now become the recognized as the gold standard check for banks and MNC's around the world. The new company was named IntegraScreen. IntegraScreen again grew rapidly and had a global footprint of thirteen offices with 300 people in 2008. It was named as one of the most exciting privately held companies in the world by a Lehman Bros report in 2007. The due diligence and KYC business provided invaluable risk information to several hundred multinationals and banks, covering all major industry sectors and produced thousands of in-depth reports every month. It successfully helped these companies safeguard their reputations and prevent significant risks from money laundering, fraud, as well as identifying OFAC and other high/extreme risk individuals and politically exposed persons. In 2009 the founders sold the due diligence division of IntegraScreen to World Check. In 2011 World Check/IntegraScreen was sold to Thomson Reuters.

During this period the founders had started a document verification business in support of immigration departments, later renamed Dataflow. Utilizing the same network of offices and field agents around the world it was able to secure contracts with several Western, Middle Eastern and Asian governments. It was through this company's work the founders became aware of the issue of human trafficking as the identification of vast numbers of fraudulent documents often indicated the involvement of large criminal syndicates. Dataflow now employs over 150 people and has substantial operations in South Asia and the Middle East. It verifies thousands of documents every month in some of the most challenging countries to operate in. It continually monitors data related to human trafficking and people smuggling. This has helped it identify hundreds of front companies and banned agents involved in the organized crime of human trafficking for its government clients.

It is from this data and the founders client base in the anti-money laundering compliance departments of major financial institutions that the idea for FreedomNow.org was born.

The same founders have now formed a new company, Ethics 360, which will assist corporate clients in complying with anti-corruption legislation around the world. We believe corruption to be the root cause of human trafficking as well as many other social ills and if private, public and the not for profit sectors can come together it can be defeated.