NCJ Number
99846
Date Published
1985
Length
20 pages
Annotation
Of the three bills proposed to counter money laundering -- S. 1335, S. 1385, and S. 572 -- the administration bill S. 1335 is the most effective in targeting culpable persons involved in all types of money laundering schemes.
Abstract
Money laundering -- the process of concealing the existence, illegal source, or illegal application of income to make it appear legitimate -- is not adequately countered under current Federal law. Most prosecutions for money laundering are currently brought under the Bank Secrecy Act, but as long as currency transactions are properly reported, the Bank Secrecy Act has no sanction for money laundering. S. 1335 would make it an offense to conduct or attempt to conduct a transaction involving monetary instruments or the wire transfer of funds, if the transaction affects interstate or foreign commerce or is conducted through a financial institution whose activities affect interstate or foreign commerce, when certain conditions are met. One foreign commerce, when certain conditions are met. One condition is that the person acted to promote, manage, establish, or maintain an unlawful activity. The second condition is that the person knew or acted in reckless disregard of the fact that the monetary instruments or funds are the proceeds of or are derived from the proceeds of an unlawful activity. The remainder of the statement on S. 1335 details definitions and provisions of the bill, including its sanctions, and comments on the inadequacies of S. 1385 and S. 572. 9 footnotes.