That's really a remarkable learning process. The billions of dollars under scrutiny at the bank of New York have reportedly been linked to a company called Benex and a Russian organized crime figure that the CIA has long been interested in. Bank of New York was founded in 1784 by among others a 27 year old future Secretary of Treasury, Alexander Hamilton. Company officials say there are no allegations here of wrongdoing by the bank and emphasized that no bank or customer money was lost. Federal law requires banks to report suspicious activity in any of their accounts.
Money laundering is a way to obscure the origins of money obtained illegally.
Marketplace's Jessica Smith explains how it works. Modern technology has made the process a lot easier. Every transaction leaves a trail. You have to make that trail too difficult or too expensive to follow. Say, an olive oil importing business.