# Money Laundering **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [January 9, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-laundering/480564 "2009-01-09T18:39:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-laundering/480564/1 "2009-01-09T18:39:51Z")
In [today’s column](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2836/how-would-i-go-about-laundering-money), the Perfect Master mentions that … > [@Cecil Adams](#): > > Another common approach is to mix up nonkosher funds with the assets of a front company: any above-ground business that handles a lot of cash, such as a check-cashing service, travel agency, grocery store, car wash, or coin laundry. Another good example is taxi services, which also handle a lot of cash and provide hard-to-measure services. At least back in the 80’s, the Chicago mob laundered a lot of cash through some of the Windy City’s big taxicab companies. … Um, so I’ve heard. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-laundering/480564/2 "2009-01-10T01:00:28Z")
I’ve mentioned elsewhere on the Board that there are a number of small bars here in Bangkok that have been open for years but seem to have surprisingly few customers. Often I’ve wondered if at least some of them might be a money-laundering front. And there used to be a Mexican-food restaurant here in town that served surprisingly good food but had very few customers. It even garnered good reviews in the local English-language press. Tia Maria was its name. It opened in 1990 and closed only a couple of years ago. One time, the wife and I and a couple from upcountry went there for dinner, and for the entire dinner hour, we were the only ones there. It was in an out-of-the way spot, but considering how long it lasted with so few customers that we saw, something must have been up. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-laundering/480564/3 "2009-01-10T05:14:26Z")
…and what was with Cecil bringing up coin laundries in a column about money laundering, and \*not \*making some cheap joke? ---
**Author:** ![jakesteele](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ed8c4c/32.png) [@jakesteele](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jakesteele)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2009, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-laundering/480564/4 "2009-01-11T22:32:15Z")
I would like to pose another question regarding this post: if you have a million in ill-gotten gains in cash bills, how would you get that out of the country into the Cayman Island accounts? The reason I ask if I knew some people back in the '70’s that used to do it by cigarette boats out of Florida to Bimini and then to somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-laundering/480564/5 "2009-01-12T02:53:26Z")
As stated in the column, you just wire it, once it’s been laundered. You’ll probably only end up with 600-800K of that million, but it’s much more likely to make it to the bank & back to you to be legally spent, and infinitely less likely to get you shot at by the Coast Guard. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-laundering/480564/6 "2009-01-12T04:20:47Z")
I think if any ordinary Doper went into that amount of step-by-step detail on how to conduct such a big-time illegal activity, the thread would be locked and probably removed by a mod in short order. Kind of amusing. In fact, I’d be interested to see what happens if any other dopers pop in to suggest _improvements_ on the methods Cecil outlines. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-laundering/480564/7 "2009-01-12T04:33:38Z")
It says money-laundering on this scale may be the world’s third-largest industry. I’m guessing anyone with that sort of illegal gains isn’t going to be looking online for how to move it. He’ll probably already be getting quite a bit of assistance. ---
**Author:** ![Humble\_Servant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/47e85d/32.png) [@Humble\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Humble_Servant)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-laundering/480564/8 "2009-01-12T20:00:20Z")
> [@](#): > > Then your U.S. front company can take a “loan” from your Cayman Islands bank account. If the FBI asks where you got the million dollars, you tell them truthfully **it’s a bank loan** , and you’ve got legal loan documentation to prove it. Is this correct? It seems to me that it would properly be an intercompany loan–the Cayman bank is not lending the money, the money is being lent by the company that has the Cayman bank account. In my vocabulary, the only time you call it a bank loan is when the bank itself is the lender. The other parts (having loan documentation, being able to deduct the interest, etc.) still work, though. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-laundering/480564/9 "2009-01-13T21:15:30Z")
Why wouldn’t the Cayman bank lend you money with your loan as collateral? It’s already wink wink with you anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-laundering/480564/10 "2009-01-13T21:17:17Z")
I have a friend whose dad looks like a mobster. He supposedly works in a car service (taxi without a meter/license) and the grandparents own a coin laundry. Hmm… ---
**Author:** ![Tym\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@Tym\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tym_King)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-laundering/480564/11 "2009-01-14T08:47:59Z")
Here in Spain, the construction industry is awash with dodgy money; even the banks are openly in on it. When I bought my flat a few years ago I was told by my bank manager that we were only declaring 90% of the price and handing over the remainder in cash so as to save money in taxes for both parties. Erm, … OK. Anyway, one story I heard was of a constructor/gangster in Marbella who, mysteriously, kept winning large sums on the lottery. He basically bought winning tickets off people for a good percentage over the prize value. Or maybe he was just a really lucky guy. ---
**Author:** ![killshot71](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f19dbf/32.png) [@killshot71](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/killshot71)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-laundering/480564/12 "2009-01-14T18:17:22Z")
Tym King stole a little of my thunder on using the lottery to launder money. We have the same problem in the USA. Currently one of the FBI’s “10 Most Wanted” fugitives and Boston’s own, James “Whitey” Bulger cashed in a Mass State Lottery ticket worth $14 million in 1991. He and his associates were paid $1.9 million in installments before a federal investigation put a stop to it in 1996. :smack: Bostonians have also had problems with their dog tracks where a legal exception allowed larger than usual lottery winnings to be paid out before requiring state officials to be notified, or from collecting the upfront taxes. Added to the problem were the massive amounts of readily available losing ticket receipts which could then be used to offset the winnings and avoid tax obligations altogether. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-laundering/480564/13 "2009-01-15T04:06:43Z")
> [@killshot71](#): > > Tym King stole a little of my thunder on using the lottery to launder money. We have the same problem in the USA. Currently one of the FBI’s “10 Most Wanted” fugitives and Boston’s own, James “Whitey” Bulger cashed in a Mass State Lottery ticket worth $14 million in 1991. He and his associates were paid $1.9 million in installments before a federal investigation put a stop to it in 1996. :smack: He’s the guy the Jack Nicholson character was at least partially based on in _The Departed_.