Ever hear of Fred Tokars? He was an expert white collar crime money launderer. We hear that term, money laundering, associated with white collar crime on the news and in crime reports but does the average person actually know what it means?
Mr. Tokars, an attorney in the 1990’s in metro Atlanta, seemed to think it was necessary to have a hit man kill his wife in front of their children. Apparently she found out that he was laundering money. Dirty criminal money.
In the white collar crime world money laundering is very prevalent because most of the money that is laundered is gained illegally. (It wouldn’t need laundering if it wasn’t illegally obtained) People want to cover their tracks.
Money laundering is defined as the practice of engaging in financial transactions to conceal the identity, source and/or destination of illegally gained money. Tax evasion and false accounting make up many of the white collar crime accusations in the money laundering world.
So how do white collar crime experts launder money? Say a business, such as a gas station, has a long standing relationship with a bank. If they have made consistent deposits for years, then the opportunity may arise to make a “larger” than normal deposit every now and then. This doesn’t look criminal, can be attributed to the business and the money launderer can now pull their money out of the bank all nice and clean. There is a limit on deposits however, anything over $10000 is bank monitored.
People can also use shell companies that show income on the books but actually don’t make any money. The income is reported, taxes are paid and the money is laundered. This is white collar crime at its best.
Do you suspect white collar crime in your business? Contact us or call 770.426.0547.
