MONEY LAUNDERING

Wood discusses money laundering in the US and the Money Laundering Control Act. She provides an overview of the offenses covered under the Act and an analysis of the elements of those offenses. She discusses the constitutional theories used to defend against prosecutions under the Act as well as the criminal and civil penalties under the Act. The Treasury Department defines "money laundering" as "the process of making illegally-gained proceeds (i.e., 'dirty money') appear legal (i.e., 'clean'). Money laundering typically follows a three-step process: (i) placement--the launderer places criminally derived money into a legitimate enterprise; (ii) layering--the launderer places the money in various pretextual transactions to obscure the original source; and (iii) integration--the launderer transforms the funds into noncash instruments recognized in the legitimate financial world, such as bank notes, loans, letters of credit, or any number of recognizable financial instruments.