Editor’s Note: Tobacco trafficking is a major source of illicit funds for criminals in the US and around the world.
From: Federal Bureau of Investigation
Specialized FBI Unit Focuses on Disrupting Professional Money Launderers
Every year, more than $1.5 billion in concealed transactions are purposefully moved around the globe. And about 20 percent of the hidden and illicit transfers occur in the United States, according to a U.S. Department of the Treasury report on money laundering and terrorist financing threats.
Transnational criminal organizations, foreign intelligence services, and terrorist groups—as well as Internet fraudsters and other criminals—move billions of dollars each year through the international banking system and across borders to conceal the origin of the funds. To more effectively address the threat, the FBI has placed a renewed emphasis on investigations that target the middlemen who facilitate the hidden flow of cash.
