Canonical Statement
Adverse media and OSINT-derived signals MAY inform risk assessment and investigative prioritization but MUST be validated and contextualized; they are not conclusive proof.
Definition
Within this framework, OSINT is evidence-adjacent input used to generate and prioritize hypotheses that require corroboration with primary records.
Why It Matters
Unverified public claims are noisy and can introduce severe false positives if treated as determinations.
Failure Mode if Ignored
Escalation and reporting decisions are made on unverified allegations, with weak defensibility and poor proportionality.
Scope & Non-Claims
This entry is scoped to use of adverse media and OSINT in regulated banking environments in the EU/UK.
This entry does not provide legal advice and requires human validation for final compliance determinations.
Related Concepts
- Counterparty risk assessment in crypto transactions (EU) (methodology)
- Case escalation and suspicion assessment (crypto) (EU) (journey)
- Documentation and audit trail requirements for crypto compliance (EU) (methodology)