According to the FBI, white-collar crimes are nonviolent crimes in Oklahoma City, OK, that have the goal of deception or concealment. An example of this is money laundering, which involves hiding the origin of illegal funds. Criminals may use several methods to “clean” to make it look legitimate.
Structuring
Structuring, sometimes called smurfing, involves depositing and spreading money over several small transactions, often called the placement stage. The layering stage helps make the money look “clean” to avoid looking suspicious.
During the integration phase, the scammer receives the “laundered” money, which looks to originate from a legitimate source. The increase of online banking and other financial entities has made tracing even more difficult because of proxy servers.
Casinos
A casino money-laundering scheme involves attempts to hide illegal funding by buying chips. The money won from the casino gets converted to a receipt or a check, so the scammer can report it as gambling income. The scammer more likely launders the money in casinos out of the country to make it even harder for the country of origin to trace.
This method leaves no trace of how many chips the scammer used, especially through online cryptocurrency. The scammer may also lose on purpose or use a false name to open multiple accounts.
Cash-intensive business
The cash-intensive business is among the most classic money laundering schemes. It involves a “cash only business or receives a large part of revenue in cash payments. This scheme commonly involves service businesses, because the ratio of variable cost to revenue can make identifying discrepancies harder.
Although the money is illegally earned, it looks legitimate, and the financial intuitions won’t likely get suspicious. Even if the financial institutions are suspicious, they’d have a hard time proving illegal activity.
Getting accused of white collar crimes commonly means stiff penalties and a trial. The defendant needs a skilled trial lawyer to argue the case or work a plea deal.
