money laundering

Aug 14, 2011
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'Eighteen people have been charged over money laundering in an Australian Federal Police-led sting that has stopped $2.6m in criminal proceeds from washing through banks and financial institutions.
The charges are part of a global operation run by Europol – the EU’s law enforcement agency – that has led to 1803 people arrested around the world as part of a crackdown on money mules.
In Australia, two of the 27 identified by authorities are believed to be organisers of money-laundering networks while 18 people have been charged by the NSW Police Force, Queensland police, Western Australia police and Victoria Police.'

'Another nine people in Australia have been sent warnings to stop activities suspected to be linked to money laundering and it is understood AFP investigators have reached out to potential victims of scams.'


Co-incidentally some of the ANOM based police investigations have involved unexplained wealth, i.e money that may have been headed for a money laundering.


In recent days:
'Authorities believe $1 billion or more of criminal dollars are laundered through poker machines in pubs and clubs.'

&
  • Investigators say criminal gangs are moving into regional NSW to avoid police attention
  • Poker machines in small pubs and clubs are being used to launder money
  • Organised crime is recruiting gambling addicts to clean "dirty" cash
 
Ironic that the banks and authorities say that one of the reasons that crypto should be highly regulated is due proceeds from crime. Government also raise a lot of revenue from poker machines and are likely to turn a blind eye.

 

sprockets

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It would be such a boring job to be the person who sits at the pokies machines all day feeding it fifties.
Exciting to an addict, knowing the more they pump in the closer they get to 'the big one', and when that big one comes they know they can do it, which gives them the motivation to try again. And again.
 
Exciting to an addict, knowing the more they pump in the closer they get to 'the big one', and when that big one comes they know they can do it, which gives them the motivation to try again. And again.
That is exactly how I would motivate the mules.

Anything you win is yours, put all of this stash of $20,000 into the machine at my pub.
 

Hojuman

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True story re money laundering. My b-i-l had a lovely mum with some odd habits, like hoarding ca$h and burying it. She was getting on a bit and her health failing and told him he might need to dig it up. He did. Smelly, dirty & stained.
He put it on a wash cycle with the front loader and literally " laundered " it.

Still makes me laugh ( was a fair amount too )
 
Jan 11, 2009
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It is common, worked at a pokies venue and manager told me same people play the same machine morning and night working in shifts, pokies have to return 87% at a minimum, some more I think, 13% tax on money ain’t bad if you can bankroll the losses.
 

jason_recliner

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That is exactly how I would motivate the mules.

Anything you win is yours, put all of this stash of $20,000 into the machine at my pub.
Isn't the winnings the laundered money? i.e. that's the money the criminals are expecting to take away.
 
Isn't the winnings the laundered money? i.e. that's the money the criminals are expecting to take away.
If you own the pokie machine then whatever money is pushed into it by a punter is just takings.

The winnings for the mule are losses you write off.

It's literally like running a laundromat, you say the cash from your illegal business was spent in your shop, record it as legitimate income and pay your taxes. Nobody cares.

If you try and spend it without paying your taxes, big problem. If you try and take it somewhere else where the taxes are better, big problem.
 

jason_recliner

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If you own the pokie machine then whatever money is pushed into it by a punter is just takings.

The winnings for the mule are losses you write off.

It's literally like running a laundromat, you say the cash from your illegal business was spent in your shop, record it as legitimate income and pay your taxes. Nobody cares.

If you try and spend it without paying your taxes, big problem. If you try and take it somewhere else where the taxes are better, big problem.

Oh, so the criminals own the venue with the poker machines? I didn't realise that - I thought they put their cash through any old pokie, accept the 13% loss, and take the now laundered winnings home.
 
Oh, so the criminals own the venue with the poker machines? I didn't realise that - I thought they put their cash through any old pokie, accept the 13% loss, and take the now laundered winnings home.
The police won't believe that you've got $150,000 of pokie winnings in your house in cash.

If you have $150,000 of business earnings they'll show up to kick someone out of YOUR place for you.
 
Jan 11, 2009
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The police won't believe that you've got $150,000 of pokie winnings in your house in cash.

If you have $150,000 of business earnings they'll show up to kick someone out of YOUR place for you.
They don’t get cash from the machine, when there is winnings they get a check.. and cash the check, pretty sure it’s hard for the everyday crim to just go and buy a pokie machine, ownership is heavily regulated.
They accept a lose on the money, hence the 13%.. or in the old days would pay for winning tab tickets with a 10% premium.
 
They don’t get cash from the machine, when there is winnings they get a check.. and cash the check, pretty sure it’s hard for the everyday crim to just go and buy a pokie machine, ownership is heavily regulated.
They accept a lose on the money, hence the 13%.. or in the old days would pay for winning tab tickets with a 10% premium.
If you own a business that has pokies and haven't had a visit from the people who usually own night life spots with an offer to work for them, I'd be surprised.
 
Jan 11, 2009
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If you own a business that has pokies and haven't had a visit from the people who usually own night life spots with an offer to work for them, I'd be surprised.
Sorry? Are you saying crims are asking pokie venues for their pokies, or to use their the pokies the crims own? I’m pretty sure crims don’t/can’t have to ability to own pokies, in Vic the majority are own by Tabcorp or similar,
Multi million dollar businesses.
 
Sorry? Are you saying crims are asking pokie venues for their pokies, or to use their the pokies the crims own? I’m pretty sure crims don’t/can’t have to ability to own pokies, in Vic the majority are own by Tabcorp or similar,
Multi million dollar businesses.
I'm not so subtly suggesting that the reason football players seem to have bikie friends and football clubs own gaming establishments and bars and bikies laundering money through gaming systems might not just be a big coincidence.

If you own a nightclub then you've been visited by organise crime representatives.
 
Aug 14, 2011
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Money laundering has no national boundaries & its not only the UK that needs to lift its game:

Good to see there are efforts to stop the flow:

'It finds that the anti-money laundering policy intervention has less than 0.1 percent impact on criminal finances, compliance costs exceed recovered criminal funds more than a hundred times over, and banks, taxpayers and ordinary citizens are penalized more than criminal enterprises. The data are poorly validated and methodological inconsistencies rife, so findings cannot be definitive, but there is a huge gap between policy intent and results.'
 
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Oh, so the criminals own the venue with the poker machines? I didn't realise that - I thought they put their cash through any old pokie, accept the 13% loss, and take the now laundered winnings home.

A well known Kings Cross identity owned a hotel in suburban Perth in the 1970s, turnover was high for the number of barrels sold & it paid 'full tote odds' on the profits.
The money could then used to buy property. He lived to spend the proceeds wisely.
 
Aug 14, 2011
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I'm not so subtly suggesting that the reason football players seem to have bikie friends and football clubs own gaming establishments and bars and bikies laundering money through gaming systems might not just be a big coincidence.

If you own a nightclub then you've been visited by organise crime representatives.

For amateur would be 'launderers' of unexplained wealth:

Its an 8 minute read:https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/columns/15623-asset-betterment-operation-obligation-and-onus
 

utility

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A well known Kings Cross identity owned a hotel in suburban Perth in the 1970s, turnover was high for the number of barrels sold & it paid 'full tote odds' on the profits.
The money could then used to buy property. He lived to spend the proceeds wisely.
When living abroad a man pointed to a large building. He told me it was a hotel with full occupancy. Every night. Though there weren't too many lights on.

The owners were underground figures who laundered their takings through ghost hotel bookings.
 
Aug 14, 2011
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'Police have seized more than $8 million in cash and charged four people over an alleged money laundering syndicate involved in the supply of drugs across Sydney.
Strike Force Trobriand was established in January 2021 to investigate the alleged criminal syndicate.'


edit:
The cash seized is one of the biggest on record for the strike force.
"In terms of organized crime we have obviously set a new record for a singular seizure of $7.8 million, so the previous one was $4.8 million in 2009," Assistant Commissioner Smith said.


"The investigation itself centred on a 32-year-old man from Campsie who we believe is the controller of the group," Assistant Commissioner Smith said.
"His attendance at the casino although he is banned from the casino, he has been charged with two offences in relation to returning to the casino, obviously a lot of the money is laundered in that method."
The four people have been charged with an array of offences, including knowingly dealing with proceeds of crime.
They were refused bail to appear in court today.
Police will investigate whether the money seized was headed to the casino to be laundered.
 
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Aug 14, 2011
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The Police would be across the $3mil rustled up here:
  • 'Police have been told a $3 million ransom was paid for his release

Omar Elomar was released by his abductors last night and is now back home after being treated in Bankstown Hospital for injuries to his face and body.'

 

jason_recliner

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The Police would be across the $3mil rustled up here:
  • 'Police have been told a $3 million ransom was paid for his release

Omar Elomar was released by his abductors last night and is now back home after being treated in Bankstown Hospital for injuries to his face and body.'


Lucky his associates - er, family and friends - had $3,000,000 spare cash on them at the time.
 
Aug 14, 2011
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From 10 days back in WA:
'The AFP said it would be further alleged the women were storing and laundering significant amounts of illicit cash on behalf of a Comanchero gang member, who was living overseas, and that the money was the profits of drug dealing'


Two Perth women have been charged over attempting to launder almost $1 million generated from the drug-dealing activities of an outlaw bikie gang.

The women, aged 33 and 59, are expected to front Perth Magistrates Court on Friday as a result of an Australian Federal Police operation dubbed Ironside.
 
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