What is money laundering?
In: Economics
Money laundering is the act of filtering money obtained through illicit/illegal means through intermediaries to make it appear legitimate.
A classic example is owning a restaurant, which is why so many classic mobster movies show them owning restaurants.
Said restaurant is barely profitable, but at the end of each shift the gangsters put extra cash in the till from robberies and create fake receipts for food that they never served. On paper the restaurant then just appears to be far more profitable than it actually is.
This doesn’t really work anymore though because cops can keep an eye on the place and see that it doesn’t actually have that many customers. Digital payments are tracked, and food supplies coming to the restaurant don’t match what is being served on paper.
Much of money laundering today is done with real-estate, foreign investments, and bitcoin.
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