Page 23 - Aequitas

AEQUITAS VOLUME: 1, ISSUE: 1

law enforcement to locate their

origins or follow their

movement. The idea of

"cleaning" illicit funds to make

them appear "clean" or genuine

gave rise to the phrase "money

laundering."There are three
main steps in money

laundering: integration,

layering, and placement. Illegal

money enters the financial

system at the placement step,

frequently through

transactions like cash deposits,
Other notable tactics include trade- currency swaps, or asset

based laundering, which involves

manipulating international trade acquisitions.

transactions to conceal the A series of transactions are made
movement of illicit funds, and the with the money during the layering

use of shell companies and offshore stage to obscure its true source and

accounts to mask beneficial make it difficult to determine how it
ownership and launder money came to be used illegally. Changing

internationally.
money between accounts,

transacting internationally often, or
MONEY LAUNDERING
purchasing expensive products or

Money laundering is the practice of real estate are some examples of

people or criminal groups disguising what this may entail. The last stage

the source of cash they have of the process is integration, when
received unlawfully to make it seem the money that was previously

genuine. It entails several intricate laundered is brought back into the

financial transactions meant to hide economy as investments or assets
the trail of illegal funds so that it that appear legitimate, so

would be challenging for "integrating" it into the established

financial system.

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