He urged local prosecutors to look beyond street-corner drug sales and devote more time to tracking the profits of heroin and cocaine. Acknowledging the complexity of moving and concealing drug money, Verniero promised to bolster training for law enforcement officers, provide swifter access to federal databases of financial records, and foster better cooperation among local, state, and federal authorities. But at least we now have in a single document . . . Lax financial laws and years of inattention from state legislators and governors have made the state a magnet for criminal profiteers, the series said. Verniero's report also comes a week after the U.S. Justice Department cited The Record's series in proposing tougher laws to stop the flow of money across national borders.
Money laundering has a pernicious effect on the economy.
That's one of the reasons, in my mind, it's so offensive. Lawmakers reacted favorably to the attorney general's report, seizing on it to add momentum to Assembly and Senate bills against money laundering. Allow law enforcement officials to use wiretaps to investigate suspected money-laundering operations. Allow judges to levy stiffer financial penalties, including property forfeiture, against people convicted of money laundering. Banks observing suspicious activity would be required to do the same.