The Pursuit Of Money Laundering

A Ponzi scheme and a pyramid scheme are white collar crimes, that have been around for about a century. While they both differ in many ways, they also share many characteristics. They are both a form of fraud and while most white collar workers commit fraud through Ponzi schemes and pyramid schemes, almost anyone can commit these types of fraud. A Ponzi scheme is when the criminal, often someone that is trusted, respected, and is already successful makes a promise to investors to invest their money into stock but does not actually invest the money at all. Many times these white collar criminals use the money for their lavish lifestyle or to feed their own side business ventures. They often promise a consistent, high return on their investment, which can come off as

card fraud. In reference to money Laundering we will the complex process of how criminals

These things make up for a vast amount of the overall profit made by certain individuals involved with organized crime. The second objective of these individuals is predatory crime. Some examples of this might include assault, arson, kidnapping, or robbery. These are the more socially reprehensible crimes which give organized crime its relative bad reputation. While many citizens would not condone many of these actions, they might unknowingly sponsor their occurrence by indirectly funding them.

(Wells, 2011, p. 241). Bribery can come in many different forms but generally is defined as an act in which something of value is offered, given, received or solicited with the intent of influencing an official act. Illegal gratuities can be similar to bribes except these are usually given as a reward. Economic extortion is basically the demanding of money. “A conflict of interest occurs when an employee, manager, or executive has an undisclosed economic or personal interest in a transaction that adversely affects the organization.” (Wells, 2011, p. 242). These are not all corruption schemes that exist but have been determined to be more common than others and ones that should definitely be watched for when completing an audit or a full financial status review.

millions of dollars of structured settlements at a discounted price so that he could generate

When criminals reach this stage, it becomes arduous for investigators to distinguish if the funds are licit or not ( Grosse, 4 ). One of the most famous money laundering scandals in America was the Bank of New York money laundering scandal with Russia. In the summer of 1999, The Bank of New York found themselves in a predicament when they were found as suspects of an international money laundering scandal. The bank laundered billions of dollars to the Russian mafia and Russian politics. In august later that year, the New York Times published their calculations that the bank laundered nearly $14.2 billion dollars to $10 billion dollars that was laundered from Russia passed through the Bank of New York (Block, 3).

In order to successfully launder money three processes are needed: placement, layering, and integration. In the first state, placement, the illegal proceeding are disengaged from direct association with the crime or criminal. In the second stage, layering, the money is used in some legal financial transaction in order to “camouflage” the cash. In the third stage, integration, the apparently legal money is available to the money launder (Kelly, Maghan and Joseph). For better understanding, the fig 1 gives a real life example on how money laundering is done.

The evidence shows there’s more needed to eliminate transnational organized crime. Despite of the corruption, the United States are doing more to fight organized crime.

Madinger (2011) Argued that Civil asset forfeiture is the driving force behind money-laundering today is forfeiture.

activities including money laundering and fraud of various types. In fact, the FBI has indicated

When deemed appropriate, engaging in intricate financial manipulations accordingly, the perpetrators of organized crime may include corrupt business executives members of the professions, public offices, or

Fraud is an issue that causes major scandals, although it is a very ancient scheme. Recent fraud events gave light to gaps that facilitated its events. Its extent was drastic by affecting financial markets that eventually trickled into global markets. Major organizations and countries worked cohesively and continue to address the gaps and, in effect, implemented strict compliance regulations to diminish and refrain fraudulent activities. Strict compliance regulations are examples of a fraud response plan the small family business could have implemented to refrain the perpetrators from fraudulent incidents, protect organizational assets and the organization’s going concern.

Organized crime was large-scale organization with highly systemic economic framework that operated in the illegal market with the purpose to make profits as much as possible. By making the production of some products and services illegal, the entrance to the illegal market was restricted. Another barrier for the entrance of the illegal market was the financial economics of scale.

White-Collar Crime consists of occupational crime and corporate crime. Occupational crime refers to offences committed against legitimate institutions businesses or government by those with "respectable" social status. It includes the embezzlement of corporate funds, tax evasion, computer crime and expense-account fraud. It is not every day that we hear about white-collar crimes but these non-violent crimes are on the rise to the top. Federal Bureau of Investigation states that USA, for example recorded white collar crimes amounting $300 billion every year (Cornell University, 2010). White-collar crime is relatively a new idea. It has many aspects that are practical for study and further interpretation to clear some of its dark areas. White-Collar Crime was once introduced by Edwin Sutherland in 1939 during his speech in American Sociological Society. The following crimes actually performed are Bribery, Extortion, Insurance, Fraud, Embezzlement, Cybercrime etc. People who participate in these criminal activities are highly powerful and respectful among the society. The following activities include description about White-collar Crime, Investigation of White Collar Crime and The Consequences of committing a White-collar Crime.

Money laundering has been defined as the process by which criminals attempt to conceal the illicit origin and ownership of the proceeds from their illegal activities. Criminals obtain the money from their illicit activities such as drug trafficking, fraud, etc. From that point forward, three stages are to happen in order for the crime of money laundering to be committed. The first stage is placement. Placement means the cash is deposited into banks. The second stage is layering meaning the funds are moved into other financial institutions to throw off any suspicions of its origins. The final stage is integration which simply means the money is used for legitimate assets such as purchasing a house or investing in stocks and other things of that nature.