Many of us don't need to
launder money, mostly because we don't have that much money and and don't need to cover up its source. However, it seems to me you might be interested in how easy it is and how it's done.
To do it yourself, sign up for an account with a virtual world that has its own virtual currency, such as
Second Life, then download and install the
Bitcoin client. Then start converting real life dollars to Linden dollars, then Linden dollars to Bitcoins. If you think this is silly, take a look at this
article from New World Notes. Here's a
current Bitcoin chart tracking Second Life transactions. The Economist explains
how Bitcoin works.
And you thought virtual worlds are silly.
This
Alex comic strip (Charles Peattie and Russell Taylor) from The Telegraph (U.K.) might explain money laundering a little more (click on the image to see it larger).
What's a shady entrepreneur to do? You could ignore the new rules, since you're probably doing something illegal anyway. Or you could be too-big-to-fail, like
HSBC. This cartoon by
Adam Zyglis sums it up nicely:
This whole
too-big-to-fail thing is just plain wrong.
-- Marge
