Money Laundering


Money laundering is the process of transforming the proceeds of crime and corruption into ostensibly legitimate assets. In a number of legal and regulatory systems, however, it has become conflated with other forms of financial and business crime, and is sometimes used more generally to include misuse of the financial system (involving things such as securities, digital currencies, credit cards, and traditional currency), including terrorism financing and evasion of international sanctions. Most anti-money laundering laws openly conflate money laundering (which is concerned with source of funds) with terrorism financing (which is concerned with destination of funds) when regulating the financial system.

Some countries define money laundering as obfuscating sources of money, either intentionally or by merely using financial systems or services that do not identify or track sources or destinations.[citation needed] Other countries define money laundering to include money from activity that would have been a crime in that country, even if it was legal where the actual conduct occurred.[citation needed] This broad brush of applying money laundering to incidental, extraterritorial or simply privacy-seeking behaviors has led some to label it financial thoughtcrime.

The term "money laundering" is said to have originated with the Italian mafia and such criminals as Al Capone who allegedly purchased 'Laundromats' to commingle (or mix) their illegal profits from prostitution and bootlegged liquor sales with legitimate business sales from the 'Laundromats' to obscure their illegal profit.

Money laundering is first seen with individuals hiding wealth from the state to avoid taxation or confiscation or a combination of both.

MONEY LAUNDERING STEPS
Money laundering involves three steps: the first involves introducing cash into the financial system by some means ("placement"); the second involves carrying out complex financial transactions to camouflage the illegal source of the cash ("layering"); and finally, acquiring wealth generated from the transactions of the illicit funds ("integration"). Some of these steps may be omitted, depending on the circumstances. For example, non-cash proceeds that are already in the financial system would not need to be placed.

COMBATING MONEY LAUNDERING
Anti-money laundering (AML) is a term mainly used in the financial and legal industries to describe the legal controls that require financial institutions and other regulated entities to prevent, detect, and report money laundering activities. Anti-money laundering guidelines came into prominence globally as a result of the formation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the promulgation of an international framework of anti-money laundering standards. These standards began to have more relevance in 2000 and 2001, after FATF began a process to publicly identify countries that were deficient in their anti-money laundering laws and international cooperation, a process colloquially known as "name and shame". more

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