On the smaller scale (e.g. not billion dollar drug cartels), the primary mechanisms remain cash-based service business fronts and casinos.
The more novel vehicles that took off in the 1990s was through insurance, where reporting was significantly more lax and the payouts were less tied to to the inputs. Enormous new regulations as a reuslt of 9/11 (and anti-terrorism financing) put dramatic new controls, such that large, third-party payments, or irregular situations will always get flagged and submitted to the government(s) for review.
Comments
Out of curiosity, what are the favored money laundering methods of modern day? More creative/impressive one you've heard of?
HSBC.
EDIT: see here for example: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/dec/11/hsbc-bank-us...
That's a 'record fine' cheaper than some of those bot-war books, but there you go.
On the smaller scale (e.g. not billion dollar drug cartels), the primary mechanisms remain cash-based service business fronts and casinos.
The more novel vehicles that took off in the 1990s was through insurance, where reporting was significantly more lax and the payouts were less tied to to the inputs. Enormous new regulations as a reuslt of 9/11 (and anti-terrorism financing) put dramatic new controls, such that large, third-party payments, or irregular situations will always get flagged and submitted to the government(s) for review.