Money Laundering - Money Laundering Methods

Money Laundering is a World-wide problem

Billy's Home Page \| A Brief History \| What is Money Laundering? \| How Big is the Problem? \| The Money Laundering Process \| Stages of the Process \| Money Laundering Methods \| How Can We Prevent It? \| Effects on Financial Institutions \| Business Areas Prone To Money Laundering \| UK Legislation \| Money Laundering Offences \| International Initiatives \| The Future \| Conclusions \| Recommendations

Money Laundering - Money Laundering Methods
by Billy Steel

Contents
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A Brief History
Here is a dig into the origins of Money Laundering and how it came about.

What is Money Laundering?
Definitions of the phrase "money laundering".

How Big is the Problem?
Estimate of the amount of money being laundered annually.

The Money Laundering Process
The 3 stages of Money Laundering - Placement - Layering - Integration.

Stages of the Process
How Money Laundering Stages are achieved.

Money Laundering Methods
Techniques used by money launderers.

How Can We Prevent It?
Some measures to prevent this crime.

Effects on Financial Institutions
How this crime affects financial institutions, legally and financially.

Business Areas Prone To Money Laundering
Which businesses are targetted by the money launderer.

UK Legislation
Which legislation in the UK covers Money Laundering.

Money Laundering Offences
What the five basic offences of Money Laundering are.

International Initiatives
Some measures to prevent this crime on an international level.

The Future
Future methods of Laundering cash?.

Conclusions
Some conclusions I have about this area of criminality.

Recommendations
Some recommendations on what can be done to strengthen the fight against this insidious crime.

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How the basic steps mentioned in the Stages of The Process are used depends on the available laundering mechanisms and the requirements of the criminal organisations. The table below provides some typical examples.

Placement Stage	Layering Stage	Integration Stage
Cash paid into bank (sometimes with staff complicity or mixed with proceeds of legitimate business).	Wire transfers abroad (often using shell companies or funds disguised as proceeds of legitimate business).	False loan repayments or forged invoices used as cover for laundered money.
Cash exported.	Cash deposited in overseas banking system.	Complex web of transfers (both domestic and international) makes tracing original source of funds virtually impossible.
Cash used to buy high value goods, property or business assets.	Resale of goods/assets.	Income from property or legitimate business assets appears "clean".

These are a small selection of the ways that people clean their "dirty money". I have littered other examples in some of the other pages but it should be taken into account that the ones I have mentioned are the money laundering schemes which have already been uncovered. However, these schemes are still being used on unsuspecting businesses as even though the authorities know about them, not many people do, or even have access to this type of information.

E-mail me with any money laundering schemes so I can update these pages.

Want to print this article? Use this version.

Questions? Comments? Talk to Billy.

by billysteel@hotmail.com