PRICELESS

The PRICELESS research initiative explores the evolving criminal activities associated with high-value unique goods like luxury items and artworks. Criminals are adapting by turning these items into financialized assets, using them for purposes such as obscuring transactions, money laundering, wealth concealment, and evading sanctions.

Financed by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and partly by public and private partners, PRICELESS delves into the assetization of unique goods. Zooming in on artworks and luxury goods such as expensive watches, PRICELESS analyses contested practices of value appraisal, insurance, and accounting, and examines how they can become corrupted. While many different parties are involved in the valuation of unique goods, they each use different methods and rarely exchange relevant data, often due to privacy constraints. However, sharing information is crucial to understanding how the valuation of assetized unique goods is malleable and subject to manipulation.

Established on a collaborative network between public and private entities in the Netherlands, PRICELESS conducts both qualitative and quantitative research into high-value artworks and expensive watches. Employing financial crime scripting and privacy-preserving technologies, the project aims to facilitate information sharing between private and public organizations. The ultimate goal is to enhance resilience through the improvement of standards, controls, regulation, and policing.

NWO's financial support for PRICELESS, awarded in 2023, is part of a broader initiative under NWO's Knowledge and Innovation Covenant (KIC) programme, which aims to investigate and prevent subversive crimes undermining legal structures.