4 ms·

There's an episode of Better Call Saul where Mike Ehrmantrout launders his $200,000 through a shady company. He gives them the cash, they pay him $20,000 a mont

There's an episode of Better Call Saul where Mike Ehrmantrout launders his $200,000 through a shady company. He gives them the cash, they pay him $20,000 a month for "logistics consulting." He tells them "make it 'security consulting.' I don't know anything about logistics." So he's got a 1099 or W-2 for his money, he pays taxes on it, and it's all clean. How many no-show jobs like this exist? Or actual jobs at a 501(c)(3). You can start one, hire yourself and your "business associates" at salaries that are somewhat justifiable, spend 5-10% of the assets annually on legitimate charity work, and you're set. Of course, this doesn't deal as well with drug cartel-class amounts of money.

zxcvbn4038 4y ago
The Mexican cartels will buy winning lottery tickets, full value, cash up front. Then when authorities question the source of their income, oh the guy has a nice house because he won the lottery fourteen times, here is all the documentation, here are the bank records showing the reoccurring deposits. Oh, and it’s not his nice house, he rents it. The cars are all leased. Legitimate income, no assets, even pays taxes - your move Johnny Law.
- AlbertCory 4y ago
  I hadn't heard of that. I know casinos had been a good way to launder money (buy $100,000 worth of chips, lose $5,000, cash out for $95,000), but I think they caught on to that.
  - zxcvbn4038 4y ago
    The best way today is to give the money to friends and family and then have them give it back to you as a gift. Gift income is legitimate, the IRS can’t go challenge the people and ask where they got the money to give to you.
    - riskpreneurship 4y ago
      IIRC you can only gift in the range of 5 figures/year/person.
    - MrPatan 4y ago
      > the IRS can’t go challenge the people and ask where they got the money to give to you Isn't that what the IRS very much does? You're moving the risk to your "friends". Or more likely, to a bunch of mules you found on the internet who want to believe that they have a job sending money back and forth.
      - AlbertCory 4y ago
        All of us are script kiddies in this game. My bet is, the real cartels have moved way beyond anything that any of us knows about. Art, jewels, shell companies, real estate... the list of possibilities goes on. That said; banks have to report any transaction that's large ($10,000 is it?), no matter to whom. I'd add "even if it's a gift" although I only suspect that's true.
        zxcvbn4038 4y ago
        There is always the old trick of just depositing the cash into safe deposit boxes - all the protection of a bank with none of the reporting. Works best if the bank is more then thirty miles from your home and business.
        boring_twenties 4y ago
        > safe deposit boxes - all the protection of a bank Nope: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34266095 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34266095
    - refurb 4y ago
      But how do they give it to you? If it's cash that’s going to raise all sorts of red flags. Thats why the KYC and cash deposits are such a focus. The financial world is basically split into “money in the system” (where tracking source and destination are easy) and “money outside the system” (cash which is anonymous). The government has just made it really hard to get money “into the system”. Its basically the chokepoint where you catch money from illegal sources.

zxcvbn4038 4y ago

The Mexican cartels will buy winning lottery tickets, full value, cash up front. Then when authorities question the source of their income, oh the guy has a nice house because he won the lottery fourteen times, here is all the documentation, here are the bank records showing the reoccurring deposits. Oh, and it’s not his nice house, he rents it. The cars are all leased. Legitimate income, no assets, even pays taxes - your move Johnny Law.

AlbertCory 4y ago
I hadn't heard of that. I know casinos had been a good way to launder money (buy $100,000 worth of chips, lose $5,000, cash out for $95,000), but I think they caught on to that.
- zxcvbn4038 4y ago
  The best way today is to give the money to friends and family and then have them give it back to you as a gift. Gift income is legitimate, the IRS can’t go challenge the people and ask where they got the money to give to you.
  - riskpreneurship 4y ago
    IIRC you can only gift in the range of 5 figures/year/person.
  - MrPatan 4y ago
    > the IRS can’t go challenge the people and ask where they got the money to give to you Isn't that what the IRS very much does? You're moving the risk to your "friends". Or more likely, to a bunch of mules you found on the internet who want to believe that they have a job sending money back and forth.
    - AlbertCory 4y ago
      All of us are script kiddies in this game. My bet is, the real cartels have moved way beyond anything that any of us knows about. Art, jewels, shell companies, real estate... the list of possibilities goes on. That said; banks have to report any transaction that's large ($10,000 is it?), no matter to whom. I'd add "even if it's a gift" although I only suspect that's true.
      - zxcvbn4038 4y ago
        There is always the old trick of just depositing the cash into safe deposit boxes - all the protection of a bank with none of the reporting. Works best if the bank is more then thirty miles from your home and business.
        boring_twenties 4y ago
        > safe deposit boxes - all the protection of a bank Nope: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34266095 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34266095
  - refurb 4y ago
    But how do they give it to you? If it's cash that’s going to raise all sorts of red flags. Thats why the KYC and cash deposits are such a focus. The financial world is basically split into “money in the system” (where tracking source and destination are easy) and “money outside the system” (cash which is anonymous). The government has just made it really hard to get money “into the system”. Its basically the chokepoint where you catch money from illegal sources.