The act of laundering money is not a simple concept to wrap one’s head around. Neither are the actions taken by the anti-money laundering agencies easy to comprehend either. Both the criminal act of money laundering, and the legal actions taken to stop it, are long involved processes. Someone who needs their money laundered, is someone who has committed an illegal and illicit act that requires the removal of all traces back to themselves, some one like a thief, a drug dealer or those who fund terrorist cells and the activities in which they take part.
Not only are these people afraid of getting caught for their crime, they are concerned with amount of money they will lose to taxes. So they are committing many crimes at one time, the initial act committed for which they came about the large sums of cash, but also the money laundering itself, and tax evasion. If someone holds a legitimate form of income, but makes small amounts of money on the side, then there is no need for them to partake in the second crime of money laundering. However, if one makes a large amount of money from illegal activities, then the laundering of that income is necessary.
Those who do find the need to launder their cash flow, tend to set of businesses as covers. This is where the term originated. Early gangsters set up laundromats as covers, it is a play on words, based on what really happen and the fact that they owned the laundromats, and what continues to happen to this day. But however sophisticated these criminals are, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other law enforcement agencies are one step ahead. The number of cases that have been brought to court and those that are under investigation currently, has far exceeded those in the past. If Al Capone can get caught, anyone can.
Related posts: