In February 2006, a group of criminals pulled off the biggest cash heist in the history of the UK, making off with £53 million pounds. To date, only £23 million of the money has been recovered. Police are understandably upset about the dead ends in the case.
posted by reenum on Feb 16, 2011 - 12 comments

Tom Delay has been found guilty of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He faces five years to life in prison on the former, and 2 to 20 on the latter.
posted by p3on on Nov 24, 2010 - 102 comments

The Vatican Bank is once again Under Investigation. In 1982 The Vatican Bank was involved in the Ambrosiano Scandal with its associations with Roberto Calvi, Gladius, Opus Dei and the P2 masonic lodge, all well documented.
The story was summarised in a 1982 Time article. The Vatican Bank is also known as the The Institute for Works of Religion and apparently holds 5 billion Euros in complete secrecy (pdf). For further reading there is the book Vatican exposed.
posted by adamvasco on Sep 21, 2010 - 125 comments

The US Department of Justice has announced arrests in four states of ten alleged members of a “deep-cover” Russian spy ring whose ultimate goal was apparently to infiltrate U.S. policy-making circles. So much for burger diplomacy? [more inside]
posted by zarq on Jun 28, 2010 - 70 comments

'Vice or Price'? Don Johnson as Sonny Crockett in Miami Vice drove a fancy car while fighting the drug world. Now Don is suspected of trying laundering $8 billion in bonds, stocks and credit notes in Germany. He said he was there to buy a car. Some car!
posted by hockeyman on Mar 13, 2003 - 7 comments

Why the tobacco industry feared The Patriot Act. Rep. Michael Oxley removed a provision involving money laundering from the bill at the behest of the White House and GOP whip Tom DeLay, under pressure from Big Tobacco.
posted by o2b on Jun 13, 2002 - 6 comments

Philip Morris vs. the Patriot Act? According to this article in The Nation, back in October the tobacco industry convinced the White House and Tom DeLay to arrange the omission of a specific section of the Patriot Act on money laundering. It had been requested by the DOJ, but it would have made some tobacco companies vulnerable to lawsuits they were facing from several foreign governments (the full story behind those lawsuits is here.) The smuggling charges are bad enough, but that the tobacco industry has a say in defining national security, if true, is infuriating. It also makes the enthusiasm with which the Patriot Act powers are being used to monitor consumers a galling double standard.
posted by homunculus on Apr 24, 2002 - 7 comments

How To Launder Money If the "terrorism can't be overpowered, it can only be undermined" train of thought holds true, then the money funding terrorist activities needs to be cutoff, especially considering they may directly profit from it (and theoretically at least, it's easier to choke off funds than grass roots ideology). From what I've read Osama bin Laden's money comes from wealthy fundamentalist sympathizers, "rogue" governments and the heroin racket. Governments create, maintain and oversee the money apparatus, but if money laundering can't be stopped I don’t see how terrorism can either, um short of eradicating poverty, "the petri-dish for the culture of suicide bombing."
posted by kliuless on Sep 19, 2001 - 11 comments