"News flash: you're not supposed to launder money. No, no one will come get you if you accidentally leave a $5 bill in the pocket of your jeans on laundry day. ""Laundering"" in the financial sense refers to the process of making dirty money clean in a more metaphoric way. If someone earns a buck doing something illegal, they need to be able to account for it in some legitimate fashion in order to spend it. Otherwise, the government is going to get wise.
There are lots of ways to launder (and yes, it's legal for us to tell you about them). In the good ol' days, the system was very straightforward: A bootlegger made a ton of money selling illegal alcohol but wanted to find another way to show that he had ""legitimately"" made the dough so the authorities wouldn't catch on. Well, a theater could show a cheap film but still be ""sold out."" So a bootlegger buys a movie theater and—voilà—the theater business shows itself to be hugely profitable with repeated ""sold out"" showings (even though there's never really more than a handful of people there)...and the bootlegging profits are now disguised as profits from the theater.
Today, money laundering usually involves fake accounts, fancy transactions faked on computer screens, and offshore accounts. The idea is the same: you create falsified documents in some way (called ""cooking the books"") to hide what you're doing from the IRS and the government. Anti-laundering laws are out there to catch people who do it and make sure their goose is cooked if they cook the books."
Related or Semi-related Video
Finance: What are Anti-Money Laundering ...5 Views
Finance a la shmoop, what are anti money laundering laws? All right well we really
wanted to do this video from Somalia where there are only pro money [Washing machine with a tick pops up on Somalia]
laundering laws but well.. you know we couldn't get a visa so we're stuck with old [Visa application stamped denied]
school money laundering and this concept comes to you direct from the Patriot Act [President Bush signing the act]
A tool by the government that was deployed after the al-qaeda bombing on
9/11 with the hopes of trying to make it harder for terrorists to you know just
raise easy money to go do more terror... But ok here's a newsflash you're not [News headline on the TV about money laundering]
supposed to launder money. And no this isn't the joke about the fiver in the [5 dollars going around a washing machine]
dryer. Laundering in the financial sense refers to hiding money from the
government essentially or hiding taxable earnings. Illustrative example time! Well there are lots of ways to
launder in the good old days the system was very straightforward a bootlegger [People handing money to each other]
made a ton of money selling illegal alcohol but wanted to find another way
to show he had quote legitimately unquote made the dough so the [Quotes going either side of the word legitimately]
authorities wouldn't catch on. Well a theater could show a cheap film but [Police officer walking past a theater]
still be you know sold out yeah, yeah every seat was taken... So a bootlegger [Girl asleep in the almost empty theater]
would buy a movie theater and voila the theater business shows itself to be
hugely profitable with repeated sold-out showings of old Three Stooges black and [Cashier with his thumbs up holding two glasses of beer]
white movies and the bootlegging profits well they're now hidden, they're
disguised they're laundered as movie theater profits right. Well today money
laundering usually involves fake accounts, fancy transactions, all over the [Someone picking up a stack of money]
globe with computers doing a whole lot of talking and you know a bunch of
offshore accounts. Well the idea is the same though you create falsified
documents in some way called cooking the books to hide what you're doing from the [Printing out documents]
IRS and from the government in general. Well anti money laundering laws are out
there to catch people who do it and make sure that if they do cook the books well [Guy holding up a false document quickly tires to hide it from the police officer]
and then their goose is cooked too... [Guy in a cell with a goose]
Up Next
What is the 2001 USA Patriot Act? The Patriot Act was made in response to the attacks of September 11th. It helps those individuals with federal po...
Money laundering is the act of trying to hide money that was acquired illegally. See: Breaking Bad.
What is insider trading and the Securities Fraud Enforcement Act of 1988? It's nothing too complicated, if this minute long video is any indication.
Painting the tape is an illegal way to manipulate stock prices. And yes, it’s still illegal, even if you paint it super pretty.