Money Laundering

Money laundering conceals the source of illegally obtained money or other assets by washing the assets through other organizations or individuals. The funds or assets then appear to be clean and obtained by legal means. Money laundering is a crime in various jurisdictions. It is of increasing concern that money laundering tends to conceal other serious crimes, terrorist activities, or political corruption. Drug trafficking, arms or other smuggling, financial crimes, extortion, insider trading, prostitution, illegal gambling, and tax evasion are instances of such other crimes. Money laundering is thus typically in furtherance of criminal activities.

Launder can mean to “sanitize” or “render acceptable.” An official document might be laundered or sanitized in this sense. The story that the term money laundering arises from an organized crime ...