By John McDowell, Senior Policy Adviser, and Gary Novis, Program Analyst, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, U.S. Department of State Money laundering has a corrosive effect on a country's economy, government, and social well-being, two State Department officials say. Given the technological advantages money launderers now employ, they say, a high level of international cooperation is necessary to keep them in check.
Money laundering is the criminal's way of trying to ensure that, in the end, crime pays.
Money laundering is critical to the effective operation of virtually every form of transnational and organized crime. Money laundering generally involves a series of multiple transactions used to disguise the source of financial assets so that those assets may be used without compromising the criminals who are seeking to use them. Through these processes, a criminal tries to transform the monetary proceeds derived from illicit activities into funds with an apparently legal source. Money laundering has potentially devastating economic, security, and social consequences. It provides the fuel for drug dealers, terrorists, illegal arms dealers, corrupt public officials, and others to operate and expand their criminal enterprises.