AML (Anti Money Laudering)

Placement

Placement is the integration of illegal cash into in the financial system. This cash can hold value in a physical or non physical asset. This is the first step of the ML Cycle

Criminals try to move illegal cash into the normal financial system.

• They often use banks, casinos, or legitimate businesses, both locally and internationally.
  
  

• Cash is deposited in ways designed to avoid triggering bank alerts or reporting rules.
  
  

• Sometimes cash is moved to nearby countries with weaker rules to make deposits easier.
  
  

Money may also be turned into legitimate assets like real estate, art, or antiques.

Layering

The Disguising of dirty money. Moving the dirty money around and mixing it with legitimate money unitl its orginal source is obfuscated

• Money is transferred repeatedly to confuse investigators.
  
  

• Large transactions are broken up or structured to avoid attention from banks.
  
  

• Fast, high-volume, and low-transparency systems are preferred.
  
  

The more accounts, countries, and assets involved, the harder it is to follow the trail.

Integration

Getting the same money back that is now “legitmate“ out the financial system

• Integration is the final stage of money laundering.
  
  

• By this point, illegal money has already been placed and layered.
  
  

• The money now returns to the criminal and appears to come from a legal source.
  
  

• It can be used freely without raising suspicion

Courier

A company or employee of a company that transports commercial packages and documents

Jurisdiction

The extent of the power to make legal decisions and judgments.

"the claim will be within the jurisdiction of the industrial tribunal"

Obfuscation

To make something obscure, hazy, or difficult to perceive.

exp. A legal contract might use complicated, long-winded language to obfuscate its true, restrictive meaning

Monetary instruments

various forms of cash, checks, and negotiable financial assets used to transfer, store, or exchange value, often in bearer form, allowing for immediate transfer of ownership

Exp. Bank checks or drafts, cashier's checks, money orders, and traveler's checks

Money Laundering cycle

The stages of money-laundering include:

Placement (i.e. moving the funds from direct association with the crime)

Layering (i.e. disguising the trail to foil pursuit)

integration (i.e. making the money available to the criminal, once again, from what seem to be legitimate sources)