This post is in no way in support of money laundering, it is for education and recreation and should be seen as such
Money laundering is one crime that has never stopped since the days of money. Politicians, business owners, drug lords, traffickers and so on do this on a regular basis. It is very hard to see a quarter in a year without a case of money laundering as it is common and the only way for people to spend funds illegally acquired in a legally. It is believed that about $2 trillion is laundered every year and this makes money laundering one of the biggest industry in the world (just joking, money laundering is criminal).
What is Money Laundering?
The ability to hid money gotten illegally or stolen and then clean such money to become completely legal for economic growth. People who launder money do this to prevent the world from seeing their real source of wealth.
Either drug, misappropriation of public funds, stealing and other form of financial crime, money launders do not get their money into their bank accounts first, rather they get their money in cash no matter how large it is. A lot of this people do this illegal trade because they want to live large and enjoy the spoil of the world but they can’t spend this money right away. This money has to be proven to have come out of a legal business or investment. Buying expensive things with this money will alert a lot of government agencies from the FBI, CIA, DEA, IRS, EFCC, and many more. This Starch of money is useless if it isn’t turned into a clean money by washing it in a laundering machine.
This is the place where Smurfs are needed. Money launders give their money to Smurfs which can be individuals, companies or even financial organizations. This money is being paid into different accounts or used to purchase invisible items from stores and marts, or it is transacted through a bank while giving the manager a little crumb from it. In most cases, this people open dummy/shell companies in countries or states with stable inflation and little law on individual finance like Delaware, Switzerland, the Bahamas and so on. This money is being transferred to this companies which do not perform any activity or have any use for its product, its major purpose is to wash money.
In some country, political figures launder money through the church, they send the money to religious places as donation to hold for a period of 10 to 20 years, giving a 10% cut on the funds. The money is being withdrawn on a daily or weekly basis as clean money for project and the money is sent back to the owners clean in bits. Since in so many countries, religious places are regarded as non-profit organization and at such aren’t liable to taxes as well as their accounts aren’t audited for fraud cases.
Take Home
Not all wealthy people get their money from legit sources, a lot of politicians, and wealthy business men have questionable wealth but money laundering has helped clean them up. The only aim of money laundering is to make illegal money look legal. In some countries, money laundering comes with a jail sentence of up to 35 years imprisonment.