Eli5: In the TV show Ozark, Marty uses falsified expenses to launder money. But how would expenses help you to keep money that you earned illegally?

Question

I get how you could buy a business and inflate your revenue in order to launder money you acquired illegally, but why would falsely inflated operational costs help you?

In: Other

Answer 1

ELI5 – “Launder Money” means that the criminal origins (‘dirty’) get ‘cleaned’ when it enters the money system.

From claiming losses on taxes to phony costs and fake payrolls – the goal is to hide (launder) the criminal origin of the money.

Fake profits and fake payroll can generate real taxes – ergo the money (less taxes) is now “clean” and can be moved to a bank or invested just like any money.