4.5 Money Laundering

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4.5 Money Laundering For criminals the intended product of crime is usually money. Cash is the preferred method of purchase in the criminal community due to its inability to be traced, but it does make it difficult to integrate the proceeds back into legitimate channels . Because of the illicit source of wealth, criminals turn to money laundering as a way to legitimize the proceeds . It is estimate that 70% of proceeds from crime have been laundered through the financial sector, but only 1% of this money has been intercepted . Money laundering is usually done through a three-step process . First the money is placed into a legitimate enterprise . It is then layered through a many different transactions, which makes the original source hard to trace . The last step is integration, where the money is integrated back into the legitimate financial world, able to be used by the criminals again . The money must be converted into a less suspicious form, the illegal origins hidden and then a legitimate explanation for the money must be created . The businesses used to do this vary widely including stocks, art trades, gambling, and real estate .…show more content…
Solicitor-client privilege, nominees, and legal trust accounts are not uncommon or exclusive to criminal organisations . It also gives the criminals a place to live and work, with some houses being used for the cultivation of marijuana or the manufacture of synthetic drugs . Renting out the property also allows the criminal to hide money as rental income

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