Can Finance Minister Dana Reizniece-Ozola outsmart Latvia’s money launderers? Pensive and composed, Dana Reizniece-Ozola eyes the chessboard in thoughtful silence. When you watch the 36-year-old grandmaster deploy her pieces — a swift advance of the pawn, or a sweep of the rook — it’s clear she’s also a master of strategy and rapid decision-making. Both of which come in handy for her life’s other pursuit: As Latvia’s finance minister, Reizniece-Ozola is leading the charge to vanquish a particularly vexing opponent. In recent years, Latvia’s banking system has gained unwanted attention for laundering billions of dollars in dirty money from corrupt former Soviet republics. In February, the U.S. Treasury Department accused Latvia’s third-largest lender, ABLV, of “institutionalized money laundering” and effectively forced its liquidation. Combined with censure from institutions like the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Latvia’s reputation has taken a thrashing — and now it’s fallen on Reizniece-Ozola, a charismatic mother of four with serious political ambitions, to help repair it. | 