NCJ Number
161217
Journal
Intereconomics Volume: 30 Dated: (July/August 1995) Pages: 177-186
Date Published
1995
Length
10 pages
Annotation
The incidence of money laundering, procedures and techniques used to veil the illegal origin of assets and money, has increased since the 1980's.
Abstract
The first phase of money laundering involves sums of cash, many low-denomination bank notes, which are deposited in the financial system or exchanged for value items. This exchange is the most conspicuous and therefore the weakest link in a chain of complex money laundering transactions whose end is marked by apparently legal assets. Sums of money moved and profits made in money laundering are considerable. According to U.S. estimates at the end of 1993, nondrug proceeds may account for as much as half of the total illegal money smuggled into or through the U.S. financial system. In Europe and Asia, drug sale proceeds probably account for 75 percent of all money laundered. Three reasons are cited for the expansion of nondrug money laundering: (1) increases in other forms of crime have led to corresponding increases in crime proceeds; (2) criminals use the same money laundering systems and/or the same experts as those used in drug money laundering; and (3) professional money launderers mix funds from a wide range of criminal activities by frequent transactions and/or through shell companies. Methods and institutions involved in money laundering are addressed. Problems associated with curtailing the incidence of money laundering, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, and the occurrence of money laundering through tax havens and offshore banking are discussed. International agreements and international and regional organizations concerned with the problem of money laundering are noted. 41 footnotes