Word: laundering
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...small percentage of the tons flooding the country, is evidence of more than just a frighteningly effective drug- smuggling industry. The wholesale value of the coke, as much as $28 billion, is testimony to another kind of dark genius. This is the scandalous ability of the coke kingpins to launder billions of dollars in drug proceeds using many of the same financial services available to the FORTUNE 500. In a wash cycle that often takes less than 48 hours, the drug smugglers can turn coke-tinged $20 and $100 bills into such untraceable, squeaky-clean assets as money-market deposits...
While businesses and individuals may conceal their assets for purposes that are completely legal, or dubious at worst, the systems set up for their convenience can be perversely efficient at helping drug barons launder as much as $100 billion a year in U.S. proceeds. "It is hard to understand why we failed for so long to institute adequate controls," says Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry, chairman of the Senate's Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations. The state of regulation is "so lackadaisical," says Kerry, "it's almost damnable...
Until the early 1980s, the flow of undocumented ivory into Japan went virtually unchecked. The country was awash in bogus documents used to launder ivory smuggled out of Africa. International protests grew, and Japan's traders began to realize that the extinction of the elephant would eventually put them out of business. Since 1985 Japan has complied with CITES rules and earned high marks from some conservationists. Its imports fell from 475 tons a year in 1983 and 1984 to 106 tons...
...Mafiosi in Sicily proved to be only temporary victories. Palermo's special investigating magistrates are trying, with little evident success, to untangle the intimate ties between the Sicilian Mob and politicians in the South. Like many legitimate businesses, the Mafia has gone global and uses sophisticated financial strategies to launder drug profits...
Customs officials say the initial C-Chase probe of narcotics "greenwashing" in Florida, which started in 1986, led them to BCCI's drug-money network. Posing as money launderers, "Musella," "Erickson" and other agents gradually infiltrated drug-trafficking circles. In May 1986 Gonzalo Moro Jr., reputed to be the chief launderer for the Medellin cartel, approached one of the agents with a proposition. If the agent were to open some Florida bank accounts and help Moro launder cash, Moro would pay a commission on each transaction...