The Industrialization of Money Laundering, A Billionaire Turnover

I. INTRODUCTION

Within the context of international anti-money laundering action, it is essential to know and study the AML legislation, deepening it, and fully understanding the modern doctrine of money laundering and its jurisprudential interpretation.

To be able to intercept and shed light on fraud and to be able to seize and recover the money, it is essential to know the modern doctrine of money laundering.

The money laundering doctrine is the discipline aimed at describing and codifying the contribution of the money laundering industry.

II. WHAT ABOUT TURKEY?

In Turkey, a recent study by the FATF estimated that the turnover attributable to the criminal economy present in Turkey is approximately 7.4 billion euros per year. 

This massive finance, which is underlined as it refers only to the Turkish system, is produced by the criminal economy, in its various forms:

1. with Organized Crime which has its financial assets in:
   – Drug trafficking;
   – Trafficking in human beings;
   – Arms trafficking;
   – Cybercrime ;
   – Illegal trade and counterfeiting;
   – Piracy;
   – Extortion;
   – Abduction;
   – Racking.
2. with Non-Fiscal Economic Crime :
   – Corruption;
   – Fraud;
   – Financing of terrorism;
   – Nepotism;
   – Ponzi schemes;
   – Insider trading ;
   – Financial crimes;
   – Stock exchange manipulation;
   – Misappropriation;
   – Health crimes;
   – Environmental crimes;
   – Violation of competition law;
   – Cybercrimes ;
   – Crypto crimes ;
   – Corona crimes.
3. with Economic Fiscal Crime: – Tax evasion (in countries where it is a crime); – Tax fraud.
   

It is therefore understandable how the organization and industrialization of money laundering has been increasingly necessary and essential; in the light of the vast production of illegal finance, there was a need for real professionals and recycling organizations.

The panorama of modern international money laundering has therefore seen the phenomenon of Shell Companies – that is, companies with no apparent transactions, no apparent employees and no apparent physical assets. This phenomenon is the main tool used in the modern doctrine of the recycling industry that does not disdain alternative instruments to the Shell Companies, for example, the new technologies of crypto-currencies.

Such entities can often be set up in less than 24 hours using online facilities and not only criminals but tax evaders are taking advantage of and benefiting from them.

To understand the phenomenon of which we are treating you want to report the turnover and the worldwide turnover of the main assets and financial income.

The turnover of the World GDP ( World GDP ) is 100 trillion euros; that of Energy (fuel, electricity, infrastructures) 15,000 billion euros; the Media 1,700 billion euros; Airlines around 800 billion euros and Plastic 800 billion euros.

By comparison and by way of example of the enormous economic power of CRIME, it should be noted that:

• the Economic Crime Tax have a turnover amounting to   10 trillion euro;

• the Economic Crime Non-Tax  has a turnover of €   5 trillion euro; is

• the Organized Crime produces streams for  one trillion euro.

This modern and fruitful organization of the industrialization of recycling called the modern money laundering industry, therefore has the ” target to clean ” objective of about 16,000 billion euros, which is precisely the proceeds of crime in its various forms ( common crime, economic, fiscal and non and organized ).

It makes us think how this recycling industry reaches a turnover of about 900 billion euros a year, about 5% of the proceeds to be cleaned, which is partly invested in the INNOVATION of recycling techniques.

Being able to count on these revenues attracts the attention of many and allows them to organize the most sophisticated techniques of “camouflage”. That’s why laundering money from crime is a real business in which real professionals of laundering operate.

This modern and innovative organization that relies on professionals, banks and financial intermediaries, acts by putting in place a real organized and industrialized process of money laundering, which modern doctrine divides into three phases: Placement; Stratification ( Layering ); Integration ( Integration ).

III. PLACEMENT ( Placement )

The initial phase of money laundering is the place of large sums of cash into the financial system, causing it to transit activities “laundry”, which have ability to accept and justify so unexpected the cash, since they are businesses based on the amount and collection of their sales and / or services , largely in cash .

Restaurants, bars, nightclubs, vending machines, direct door-to-door sales and check cashing activities or the SMURFING (2) business, i.e. money smuggling, are the main channel and target for obtain the transfer of funds without arousing suspicion, and then use it in other techniques, such as LOAN BACK (3), provided that you want to return the money within the economic or productive structure, otherwise the money is destined in one tax havens, with c reaction from funds or front companies.

This placement phase is not always a necessary step, if the money to be laundered or hidden is already in the financial system.

In this case, the process begins with layering .

IV. LAYERING

It serves to hide or disguise the source of the money, and confuse investigators, regardless of whether the origin of the money is criminal or the purpose is tax evasion, transactions can be justified in seemingly legitimate business relationships and can have solid accounting evidence with ample supporting documentation, which gives clear legitimacy to the transaction. The stratification occurs with transactions between foreign countries with the use of structures and numerous bank accounts. Stratification is the method used by the technology and digitization of payments which, in an automated and massive way, makes us lose all traces of the genesis of hidden and criminal funds, this is now widespread in the crypto world.

V. INTEGRATION 

It is the phase of reconversion, that is, changing the origin of dirty money or money from tax evasion. deposited and stratified in the hands of the criminal in a form that he can use without risk of confiscation and actions as well as an investigation by the various bodies responsible for investigation and control.

For example, integration can take the form of payment (consultancy services, a real estate broker, an artist, an investment company, an event management company, an art management company, a risk capital…) to a company or person with whom the offender appears to have no connection. The integration can also take the form of a loan.