I know money from drugs, robberies, stolen goods, etc is “dirty” but, how does anyone know it’s dirty? Why can’t you just spend your money?
In: 316
What makes dirty money dirty, to begin with? Lack of legal paper trail.
How do you know money is dirty? You ask where it came from. For small amounts, its simply not worth the time to investigate. But as the amount increases, so does interest in understanding where it came from, and the number of laws to report the purchase.
This is in effect why money laundering exists at all. When you buy a car, a home, a business, anything of substantial value, it’s reported. It’s part of why you file taxes, and the IRS is one of the most funded parts of the government. If you report 20k income, but buy a new car in cash, someone notices.
Same thing for businesses, as a business you file taxes. The government knows how much you claim to have, they know how much similar businesses make, they know what businesses in your area make, if you suddenly start showing suspicious amounts, it gets flagged.
Money laundering is literally operating in that narrow gap that keeps you below suspicion. You need to pretend it came from something legit, that way when you go to spend it has the paper trail.
Latest Answers