Money Laundering Crimes
Scott Rothstein was previously known as a lawyer, but he has recently pled guilty to a crime involving money laundering, fraud and RICO conspiracy. This plea has disbarred him from having a career in law, and he can face up to thirty years in prison.
Rico stands for Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations. Rothstein ran an investment for over one billion dollars. The defendant had originally pled not guilty in December, but decided to change his plea. Rothstein was the backbone to the biggest investment fraud in case in the history of South Florida.
Rothstein sold bogus legal settlements to some wealthy investors that totaled a large sum of $1.2 billion. All this money bought Rothstein over a dozen homes and over twenty flashy cars. There was even security hired to guard the gates of his mansion and himself.
Money laundering is considered an act of concealing the ownership of money that is acquired in illegal ways. When someone is a part of money laundering, he or she makes it look like the money came in legally.
Three Steps to Money Laundering
Miami criminal defense attorneys are the best people to help in situations concerning this crime. There are three basic steps to money laundering, and they are:
1. Placement: This step requires the launderer to put the dirty money into a legit financial account. This is the most dangerous step because cash is deposited in lump sums. Banking institutions are in charge of reporting any suspicious activity such as an enormous cash deposit.
2. Layering: This is the process of sending the money through several transactions so it is hard to track and follow. The transactions are usually made through different accounts in different countries with different names. The whole point of this step is to make the money completely untraceable.
3. Integration: At this point, the money re-enters the economy in a legitimate looking way. This is the last stage of money laundering, and it is very difficult for the officials to catch the launderer because there are no previous documents on the money.
Most of the time, money laundering is involved with drug trafficking and terrorist attacks. It is difficult for the FBI and such to decipher which transactions are fraud because there are so many deposits made daily in the United States.
There are many ways that people have laundered money. “Smurfing” is the simplest way. This is when the criminals need to launder less than $10,000 into various accounts. An intermediary transports the money for deposits somewhere else. Shipping the money abroad is another way that criminals launder money. The money is shipped in bulk amounts and put into offshore accounts until it can be transferred back to the launderer.
Money laundering is considered a felony and can give someone extensive jail time. Miami criminal lawyers are experienced in this area of law and can help anyone with a difficult situation.
