Why do people buy huge canvases with a few dots on from an arts unheard of for millions? I know it’s commonly used to launder money. Can someone explain how the process works?
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You can launder money all sorts of different ways with anything that is expected to trade hands at high prices. Like art, collectible cars, etc. My friend has to launder all his income bc he sells weed legally in a state where it’s legal, but federally it’s illegal so he can’t report that income as taxable or put the money in a bank because both are federally governed. He does things like:
Have a friend he knows in the car industry write him a loan for a collectible car, something like $100,000. He pays the guy cash so the loan is bogus. After a few years, he sells the car for whatever, say $120000. Now that money goes in the bank, and he reports a $20,000 gain and pays taxes on that. If anyone looks around a bit, they see he bought the car, had a valid title and financing, “made payments” and sold it legally. Clean purchase and sale, doesn’t raise suspicions at the bank for why he’s getting wired $120,000.
Same with art. He buys a painting for $10,000. Sells it a year later to a friend for 100,000, but in reality gives him the 100,000 cash and the painting. Friend wires him 100,000 back. Friend gets a painting, he gets 100,000 cleanly wired into his account with a bill of sale, and 90,000 “profit” so he can pay some taxes.
In reality, if anyone looked around under the hood, they would immediately know he is laundering money. The point is to just pass the basic sanity check test, and no one really gives a fuck.
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