Summary
Ninth Survey of White Collar Crime
The Money Laundering Control Act of 1986 (MLCA) prohibits monetary transactions engaged in with the knowledge that the funds are or may be derived from criminal activity and provides for imprisonment, fines and forfeiture. The MLCA defines multiple crimes divided into categories based on the defendant's level of knowledge and intent and the type of transaction. The statute also contains a catch-all provision with no criminal intent requirement that is intended to deter all transactions with potentially criminal individuals.See the full content of this document
Extract
Money laundering.
MONEY LAUNDERING
I. Background 722 II. Overview of the Statutes 723 A. Section 1956 723 1. Transaction Money Laundering 724 2. Transportation Money Laundering 724 3. Sting Operations 725 B. Section 1957 726 III. Elements of the Offenses 727 A. Knowledge 727 1. Willful Blindness 729 2. Constitutional Vagueness 730 B. Specified Unlawful activity 730 1. Pleading with Particularity 731 2. Double Jeopardy 732 C. Financial Transaction 733 1. Multiple Transactions 735 2. Interstate Commerce 736 D. Proceeds 737 1. Tracing 739 2. Sting Operations 739 E. Intent 740 IV. Penalties 743 V. Sentencing Guidelines 743 A. Section 1956 743 B. Section 1957 744 Money laundering is the process by which one conceals the existence, illegal source, or illegal application of income, and disguises that income to make it appear legitimate.(1) Laundering "dirty money" has become a lucrative and sophisticated business in the United States and is an indispensable element of organized crime's activities.(2) Without the ability to move and hide its enormous wealth through laundering techniques, large scale criminal activity could operate only at a small fraction of current levels, and with far less flexibility.(3) In recognition of this phenomenon, Congress passed the Money Laundering Control Act of 1986 (the "Act"),(4) holding criminally liable any individual who conducts a monetary transaction knowing or with reason to know that the funds involved were derived from unlawful activity.(5) Unlike earlier unsuccessful efforts to control the movement of illegal income through financial institution reporting requirements,(6) the statute is aimed at "the lifeblood of organized crime" itself(7) - the act of converting funds derived from illegal activities into a spendable or consumable form.(8) I. Background The Money Laundering Control Act of 1986(9) defines and prohibits for the first time a category of activity known as "money laundering."(10) The Act not only reaches the proceeds of conduct characteristic o organized rime such as narcotics trafficking, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)(11) pedicates, of certain state offenses, but also encompasses many additional criminal offenses ranging from espionage, to trading with the enemy, to tax evasion.(12) Although the proceeds of crime historically have been subject to seizure by warrant for use as evidence,(13) the Act makes criminal proceeds perpetually illegal. Long after the criminal offense which generated the proceeds has come to an end, those who conduct prohibited financial transactions or transportation of the funds engage in criminal conduct independent of the income-producing original crime.(14) The concept is to bar all "monetary transactions" in "criminally derived property."(15) The Act does not limit itself to transactions conducted through financial institutions,(16) but appears to reach a broad variety of routine commercial transactions which affect commerce.(17) II. Overview of the statutes A. Section 1956 Section 1956(a) contains ten separate crimes, distinguished by the particular defendant's knowledge and intent,(18) divided into three broad categories. The first subsection of section 1956 prohibits knowing involvement in a wide range of transactions dealing with the proceeds of criminal activity, either (1) with the intent to promote unlawful activity or (2) with the knowledge that the transaction is designed either to conceal some aspect of the funds, such as its ownership, control, or source, or to avoid the currency transaction reporting requirements.(19) Another subsection of section 1956 prohibits the transportation of monetary instruments in foreign commerce with the same intent or knowledge requirements,(20) and the third subsection authorizes the use of government sting operations to expose criminal activity under this section.(21) 1. Transaction Money Laundering The first category of crimes contained in section 1956 may be referred to as transaction money laundering because the prohibited action is the con...See the full content of this document
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