NCJ Number
116275
Date Published
1989
Length
42 pages
Annotation
This television documentary script details how money from illegal drug activities is invested in the American economy.
Abstract
Drug traffickers look for ways to hide and launder the cash they obtain from drug transactions. Some money laundering operations take place in the Caribbean. The documentary includes interviews with convicted drug traffickers and with law enforcement officers who explain how the money laundering is carried out. Cash from drug sales is deposited in accounts of fake off-shore corporations. Those who carry out these activities are trained lawyers and accountants. In order to stop money laundering activities, the U.S. government requires that anyone leaving the United States with more than ten thousand dollars in cash go to U.S. Customs and fill out a currency report. Money laundering operations ignore this requirement and are not apprehended. Drug money is laundered and then returned to the United States where it is often invested in boats, businesses, the stock market, and commercial and residential real estate. The documentary points out that those who have financial transactions with drug traffickers are committing a Federal crime if they know the money comes from unlawful activity.