Money Laundering is the process of introducing illegally obtained money back into the economy. Sometimes this occurs through a series of complex bank or commercial transfers, and other times it’s as simple as a cash transaction.
The goal is to exchange the illegally acquired money (dirty money) for legally acquired money (clean money), and therefore, avoid suspicion from law enforcement. Money laundering is also a key ingredient in terrorist financing, and has important consequences from a compliance perspective.
In the US, money laundering took off in the 1920s during the prohibition era. As alcohol was made illegal in the US, a profitable black market soon arose to fill the boozy gap. Organized crime boomed as the demand for alcohol rose.
You may have heard of Al Capone, who was a major mob boss in Chicago. It is rumored that the term “money laundering” originated from Capone, as he set up laundromats across the city in order to disguise the origin of the money earned from alcohol sales. Any illicit profits would simply be added to the revenue generated by the laundromats and thus re-introduced into the financial system.