MONEY LAUNDERING LAWS REVISTED

For people who do not know exactly what money laundering means. It is the practice of engaging in financial transactions in order to conceal the identity and source of the origin of the money. This is the way criminals have protected their assets for decades. Last month the United States Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision that stated that hiding cash to take out of the United States is not a crime. The prosecutors must prove that this individual was traveling to Mexico with the intention of hiding the money. This is really bad for prosecutors because this was their strongest evidence in the war against drugs, with a high conviction rate when used in the drug cases. The law also states that it applies only to profits of the enterprise, not all the money that it grosses. Prosecutors have convicted defendants on money laundering charges when they could not explain these significant amounts. Public defendants and defense lawyers have complained that their clients were trapped and forced to plea guilty in cases like drug dealing that did not relate to the initial case. Money laundering is a practice that has made the Internal Revenue Service and Federal Bureau of Investigations frustrated time and time again. According too HowStuffWorks.com 500 billion to 1 trillion dollars are laundered globally a year. All different kind of criminals launder money like drug traffickers, corrupt politicians, embezzlers and mobsters. Money laundering goes as far back as the Prohibition Era, where mobsters would launder money generated by bootlegging liquor and running numbers. The use of offshore accounts has kept money laundering at the top priority list for many criminals. Especially these banks that have secrecy laws and various shell companies (that are fake companies that exist for laundering) and help money laundering to flourish. I don't know if the United States Supreme Court decision will change anything but because you have a large sum of money hidden does not necessarily mean illegal activity or money laundering. The United States Supreme Court decision might be bad for prosecutors but good for drug dealers across the board.