Money Laundering
Money laundering involves hiding, disguising or legitimising the true origin and ownership of money used in or derived from committing crimes. It is an extremely diverse activity that is carried out at various levels of sophistication and plays an important role in organised crime.
There is no single method of laundering money.
Money laundering methods
Money launderers often use the banking system and money transfer services. However they are imaginative and are constantly creating new schemes to circumvent the counter measures designed to detect them.
Money laundering schemes may include moving money to create complex money trails, making it difficult to identify the original source and breaking up large amounts of cash and depositing the smaller sums in different bank accounts in an effort to place money in the financial system without arousing suspicion.
Prosecuting money laundering offences
Money laundering prosecutions are complex as they often involve complicated factual circumstances and dealings carried out in foreign jurisdictions. This means may mean we need overseas cooperation and evidence to assist in our investigation and prosecution of the matter.
Prosecuting these offences often requires detailed financial analysis and evidence.
We are continuing to deal with an increasing number of prosecutions of money laundering matters as law enforcement agencies ‘follow the money’ in the investigation of serious and organised criminal activity.
Key legislation
Partner agencies
- Australian Federal Police
- Australian Border Force
- Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre