The Moral Limits of the Crime of Money Laundering

Abstract

I. THE PROBLEMATIC Clean money is worth more than dirty money. Clean money—money untainted by criminal association—can be invested in profitable activities or spent on consumption, more or less conspicuous, without risk of recrimination. Dirty money, generally speaking, can only be invested or spent less profitably, less visibly, and at a risk of punishment. It also carries the risk of being used as evidence of the initial crime. With the exceptions of small thefts of fungibles, like cash and the fantasy case of the criminal art collector who wishes to sit alone with a painting so famous that it could not be resold, virtually all income from criminal activities must be disguised to be of use to the criminal. Money laundering 1 is that process of disguise. Analysis of money laundering, in terms of criminal markets, holds that secrecy has value. 2 People will pay for secrecy because it costs less than disclosure. To the person in possession of money deriving from illegal sources, the dangers of disclosure relate to the possibility of prosecution and imprisonment. The process of money laundering holds out the prospect of gaining lasting secrecy for the information dealing with the provenance of the money. On the demand side, a person holding assets