not for myself

[des007]

OK...this is strictly a "writer question." I am doing research for a mystery novel. I need to know about money laundering. Any ideas for sources...that won't get me killed. :)

des

[Jude Hardin]

This site covers the basics.

[Jack Getze]

Jude's site is a good one. As a stockbroker back in the early 80s, I knew guys who did a lot of "smurfing" for their clients. If a guy wanted to buy bonds or stock with, say $50,000 in cash, the guy's would take him on a tour of Red Bank, visit 6 or 7 banks, exchanging 8-9,000 in cash for a bank check at each, then bring the customer back and use the bank checks to pay for the bonds. Things are getting tougher, but I hear it can still be done.

One way not mentioned in that article is the old--Oh, Gee, I got lucky at Atlantic City, and declare your ill-gotten cash as income you won at the black jack table. You pay income taxes, but the money's now "clean."
Some of these methods play in my current novel, Big Numbers.

[Jude Hardin]

Yeah, you can open an account with a casino, maybe gamble for a little while and then--win a little or lose a little--cash most of the chips back in.

Here's a question for anyone who wants to respond: If you found a briefcase containing a million dollars cash, with no way to identify its owner, would you keep the money? How would you manage it?

[Jude Hardin]

Ethical issues aside, wouldn't you worry, night and day, about it being traced somehow, about guys in dark suits showing up at your door?

I always thought I would just stash it in the attic and use it to live on, but if the serial numbers could be traced--by the good guys or the bad guys (let's face it, no way that kind of dough in a briefcase is legit)--I would be in deep caca or dead. I would have to launder the money somehow, but then I'd constantly be worried about getting caught doing that.

So I'm not sure what I would do. Luckily (or not), I'll probably never have to find out.