Money-Laundering Expert Rates 8 Money-Laundering Scams In Movies and TV | How Real Is It?

There's more

money

here than we could spend in 10 lifetimes. I certainly can't wash it. That's pretty

real

istic too. You will have to have many small businesses to manage millions of dollars. Hi, I'm Jerri Williams and I was an FBI special agent for 26 years. I investigated economic crimes, financial fraud. I am also the author of "FBI Myths and Misconceptions: A Manual for Armchair Detectives." Today we will watch clips from

money

laundering

movies

and judge how

real

istic they are. Marty: Money

laundering

101. Let's say you come across a suitcase with $5 million in it. What would you buy? One yeit?

A mansion? A sports car? Now, your basics about money laundering are somewhat correct, but you have a few things that are wrong. Marty: The IRS won't let you buy anything of value with it. The IRS will let you spend all the money you have, but they want to know where you got it from. And they also want to make sure they get their cut. So if a criminal or bad guy comes in and wants to donate a million dollars for a house, that will be reported to the IRS. I believe it's called Form 8300. And if they suspect activity, it will be reported to FinCEN as well.

Marty: You have to get older. Crumple it, drag it across the ground. It is not necessary to put it through a washing machine. But I guess if a criminal had some illegal source of money and it came to him in crisp new bills and he tried to pretend that it was part of his normal income from a business, I guess he would want to make it look like that. been handled, but I had never heard of it before. Marty: The next thing you need is a cash business. This clip is very realistic. Strip clubs and casinos, restaurants and bars, any type of business where cash is used and transacted are the perfect type of business to launder money.

Marty: That mix goes from an American bank to a bank in any country that doesn't have to listen to the IRS. Then it goes to a standard checking account and violà. All you need is access to one of over 3 million endpoints. Because your work is done. Well, your job will be done once the money is in the banking system. No need to send it anywhere else. Now it is clean and legitimate money. The only thing it doesn't talk about is the fact that when you deposit that money, if it's more than $10,000, you have to fill out what's called a CTR, or a monetary transaction report.

And this is required of any bank. And, of course, on that form you must indicate where the money comes from. I would give this clip about a 7 out of 10. I think they got the general, basic part of money laundering pretty much right. Steve: And Gacha had the most successful emerald mine of all time. She injected bad stones with oil to make them shiny and had her friends in Miami buy the emeralds with drug money and give them to the city's prostitutes. And this is another example of money laundering. If no one is looking to put a value on those gems or diamonds or whatever you're exchanging for cash to legitimize your illegal funds, then, you know, on paper it looks like a legal transaction has occurred.

Steve: And that's what they did. This is very realistic and based on truth. Drug traffickers in South America reached a point where they had so much money that they buried it. It is rumored that that money is still buried somewhere and people are constantly searching to find it. Steve: They hid it in coves, hiding places in walls and ceilings. I was once involved in a search. All the cash was hidden in the floor of the van. It was quite exciting to find thousands and thousands of dollars, although tedious to have to count them. I would give this clip a 10 out of 10.

It's pretty authentic. There has been no one that I know of who has hidden as much cash as Escobar, and he is legendary. I didn't know what else to do. I tried to weigh it. I calculated that a bill of any denomination weighs one gram. A pound has 454 grams. Money is handled on a regular basis, especially in the drug trade, so all of that will make each particular bill weigh differently than when it was a nice, crisp, clean bill. So there's really no way to determine how much money there is simply by weighing it. I just pile it up, keep it dry, and spray it for silverfish.

Most of the time money is simply kept in a bag. I have heard many times of drug dealers or criminals who collect money and store it in one place and then come back to find that it is water damaged, that it is rotting, that it has been eaten by animals or insects. There's more money here than we could spend in 10 lifetimes. I certainly can't wash it, not with 100 car washes. That's pretty realistic too. You will have to have many small businesses to manage millions of dollars. I think I would give it a 10 out of 10. I think the issue of having too much money to spend and the way it is stored is pretty realistic.

Where does this check go? Montana Real Estate Company. This is the point where money laundering occurs. It becomes money laundering through a real estate company. And this is a pretty authentic part of the scene. I have heard of many companies that have been used as fronts for criminal activity, and it is kind of sweet and funny that many of them use the names of their spouses, wives or children. It's a nice thing until the federal government comes and confiscates. Alright, freeze! Lift them up! Up the hands! Officer: Put your hands against the wall, turn around. Let your undercover agent or informant leave the scene before coming and making an arrest.

No hurry. You know the money is there, you know the transaction was made, you have the camera, the video of everything. Officer: Put them against the wall. He is under arrest for violation of the RICO statute. So, mention RICO here. RICO is the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act and is used when investigating a large organization. See that eye on the clock? Say, "Hello, honey." I think they could have done a better job of disguising it. I would wonder if there was a camera poking out from this clock. Most of the time I have audio equipment hidden on the cooperating witness or the undercover agent's person.

You know, a pager or on a cell phone or in a book. Many times lamps are used simply because they are at the right height and are very effective tools for hidden cameras. I would rate it a 7 or 8. I think it's pretty realistic as far as trading funds goes. You know, I have a problem with the fact that they're sitting there counting the money, you know, for hours and hours. Let me ask you something. What about your family, right? How could anyone think they're going to get past security at most airports with money like that tied all over their body?

Anyway, before we became much more security conscious here in the United States, the TSA, you know, I still think they would have realized that. Nowadays you are going to have to go through a body scanner in addition to all your carry-on luggage. I mean, they all got Swiss passports, right? His wife and family are what we would call money mules. People who are paid to transfer illegal sums. A money mule may also be paid just to open bank accounts and then make those deposits and transfers in their own name on behalf of the criminal. It is very common for a criminal to ask a family member or friend to do this, but he or she can also simply pay a stranger.

I mean, she has parents, she has a brother, right? The brother has a wife, that's five damn people. Six, seven trips, boom. One of the things that really bothers me about this scene is that I know the particular case this movie is made about and it was an investment fraud. The money was already in the banking system. So I'm not even sure where all this money came from. It wasn't a cash business. I hope this is a scene set up for comedy, because it is pure comedy. There are parts of the entire movie that are pretty good.

I mean, it's based on a real case, but these scenes, they're not good at all. I would rate it as low as 1 or 2. Immigration official: I can confirm that you left Sweden on a private jet that landed in Paris last week. Transfer funds from an account that does not belong to your own account. This is what people think when they think about money laundering. But, in reality, it is not about money laundering. It's identity fraud, wire fraud, embezzlement. I have several accounts at the Bank of Kroenfeld, Cayman Islands. I would like to transfer those accounts and convert them into bonds.

Naturally, you have the clearing codes. Naturally. How many accounts will you transfer? 30. Because of fingerprinting and facial recognition, I believe it is becoming more difficult to commit disguised identity fraud. So, you know, she gets her way, but the documentation, her passport and other types of identification have to be able to be verified. Journalist: Where is the fugitive financier Hans-Erik Wennerstrom: here on this Caribbean island? Now it is money laundering, because he has taken funds and disguised and hidden them. He took money that was in the banking system, transferred those funds, and converted them into bonds. How many of these would you like to convert into deposit?

The 50 in five accounts. These fake bonds, I guess they're fake, for a Swiss banker. Therefore, they will have to have the appropriate weight, the appropriate stamps, and the appropriate official markings that these types of bonds would normally have. And it is a criminal act by the banker if he does not verify the identity of the person. Or if they believe that those funds were part of criminal activity, the banker would not accept those funds into the bank, because doing so would also be a criminal act. What you hear about Swiss banking secrecy has to do with when those funds have been legitimately deposited.

But banking in Switzerland continues to operate like any other bank in the world. They still want to know who you are. I think I'd probably give it a 10 out of 10. You know the drill, everyone gets a burn bag. In it you put anything that has Barry Seal's face or name on it. Barry: Come on guys, we gotta move. I can tell you that seeing this makes me very happy. There are some agents in the FBI who prefer to poke their eyes out with a stick rather than have to review documents and papers. Of course, now many of these things will be online.

This is still going on, but I imagine it's a lot easier to destroy evidence that's online than, you know, boxes and boxes of paper like this. Agent: Seal! DEA! Walk away from the truck with your hands up. I've been in many situations, especially during searches, where we walk in, identify ourselves, and immediately have to tell people to stop. Agent: ATF! Drop your weapons! Wait, wait, wait, DEA! ATF! Put down your weapons! It's great! Everyone is friends here! Now, this particular case occurred before the late 1980s. Maybe something like that could happen, but it doesn't happen anymore.

Not since they created what is called HIDTA to be able to resolve conflicts or prevent all those agencies from arising together in the same type of case. You do not want any law enforcement agency, officer or agent to be injured due to friendly fire. So I would rate this movie clip a 5. The last half, when we had all these law enforcement agencies converging at the same time, no, that's not very realistic. A last minute addition to your catalog. Lot No. 277 A, oil on canvas, signed by the artist. "The Road to Damascus" by Jonathan Graziosi. This part of the clip is pretty funny.

Art is in the eyes of the beholder and it is more difficult for authorities to determine what the value of art is. And unlike other businesses, the art dealer does not have to complete that CTR, as we talked about, to inform the IRS that this transaction has occurred. 50,000, anyone? No? Oh well, what a shame then. Money laundering does not usually occur at an auction like this. Every art at auction would have provenance, where you know exactly who the artist is and how much this artwork has sold for before. It has a trace of how much it is worth, of how much it has been valued in the past.

We have $50,000. When you have a single buyer, then again that's when the radar goes off, that this could be suspicious activity here. What a picture you have for you, sir. Thank you. Someone at that level should suspect that a painting of that quality would sell for this amount. Now he is part of the conspiracy, so if he could give him any advice, I would tell him that this is the point at which he needs to confess to the FBI. I would rate this scene a 7 or 8. I think they got a lot of things right about the use of art in a money laundering scheme.

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