4 ms·
>"Money laundering" as it is understood today only emerged in the 1980s during the war on drugs. Nonsense. From wiki: "The term "money laundering" is said to h
by aphextron 9y ago
>"Money laundering" as it is understood today only emerged in the 1980s during the war on drugs.
Nonsense. From wiki: "The term "money laundering" is said to have originated with the Italian mafia and such criminals as Al Capone who allegedly purchased 'Laundromats' to commingle (or mix) their illegal profits from prostitution and bootlegged liquor sales with legitimate business sales"
But furthermore I don't think it needs to be argued that people have been hiding money from governments since there has been money and governments. It will always be an implicitly illegal act regardless of the existence of specific statute because you are in the end avoiding taxation.
- dragonwriter 9y agoYou don't launder to avoid taxation, you launder to provide a plausible legitimate excuse for your criminal income, usually paying taxes in the process. It's usually highly illegal because it involves falsifying records, including those filed with tax authorities (and because the purpose of that falsification is to conceal another crime.)
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- beambot 9y agoIn many peoples' reasoned opinions, the "illegality" of prostitution and alcohol sales is up for debate (laws not withstanding). Heck, even past American presidents skirted the laws for the latter -- and probably didn't pay taxes on booze sales either. EDIT: My point (to the downvoters) is that not all "illegal" activities are immoral, and that reasoned people could legitimately consider willfully defying & hiding their defiance as an act of freedom. Case in point: Tea in 1773.
- sowbug 9y agoI'm not following. Are you saying that laundromats have existed as long as money has? And what does "implicitly illegal" mean? Are you from a country normally described as free?