The expression “money laundering” has been already mentioned in the past, mainly in the context of funds originating from criminal activity. Meaning turning “black” money obtained from committing any offenses such as: drug trafficking, protection fees, bribery and more…into “legitimate” money for which taxes had been duly allotted.

 

Currently we are living in an era where the expression refers to all financial activity that has illegal elements, not only in respect of funds obtained from committing crimes such as those listed above. Thus, following the expansion of the definition of the term “money laundering”, we see that money laundering is exercised not only by those “distinct” crime factors, but rather by ordinary people and businesses as well.

 

There are many ways to launder money making them legitimate, some more sophisticated and some simple. A common method of money laundering is the transfer of the funds to an intermediate party, who routinely handles large amounts of cash. The intermediary party will deposit these funds in his account along with the amounts coming from legitimate businesses, and transfer the sum the origin of which is dubious to its owner by check or bank transfer, deducting a certain commission.

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The State of Israel makes many efforts in order to nip in the bud “money laundering” activities, and for doing so exercises many legislative and enforcement measures. For example: Mandatory ongoing reporting of money transfers taking place in the financial systems and monetary institutions. Following the enactment of the Prohibition on Money Laundering Law, as part of the Ministry of Justice, the Israel Money Laundering and Terror Financing Prohibition Authority had been established; having much enforcement powers and includes an extensive staff of highly trained investigators, attorneys and technology and computing personnel.

Risks and punishment

Money laundering is an offense that is considered to be most sever and usually accompanies other offenses such as: Obtaining by fraud and others. The severity of the offense is reflected by the severe penalties for committing such. “Money laundering” offenses are heard at the district court, and are usually managed by the financial units of the State Attorney’s Office.

An additional drastic measure the State exercises in such offenses is forfeiture the offenders’ property by the State, meaning the law allows the State to seize the property of those charged with money laundering.

Why use the services of a law firm?

A criminal defense attorney, having many years’ experience in criminal law in general, and particularly in issues concerning money laundering and white collar offenses may greatly assist in the representation of suspects and defendants within the financial offenses’ domain and attempt to achieve for them the best results.

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