the.com/money laundering
turning dirty cash into a legitimate-looking paper trail, one shell company at a time.
means the process of disguising illegally earned money so it appears to come from a legal source.
from the term traces to 1920s-30s american mobsters who bought laundromats as cash-heavy fronts to mix dirty profits with clean receipts; al capone's associates made it literal before regulators made it a legal term of art.
three stagesplacement, layering, integration — dirty money's makeover cycle
global scaleun estimates 2-5% of world gdp laundered yearly
favorite toolsreal estate, art auctions, and casinos love cash
first lawus criminalized it explicitly only in 1986