United States Is Prime Destination For Laundered Cash, Says Report

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

20 November 2001

According to a report just released by the Inside Fraud Bulletin, the US generates around 46.3% of the globe's underworld cash compared with 5.3% for Italy, 5.2% for Russia, and 2.4% for the United Kingdom.

John Walker, the report's author revealed that the United States also tops the list in terms of the laundering of illegal funds, with 18.9% either laundered through, or invested in the country. According to Mr Walker, the Cayman Islands comes a not very close second with 4.9%, followed by Russia with 4.2%, Italy with 3.7%, and China with 3.3%.

Although the United Kingdom does not feature in the top ten countries most used for laundering criminal funds, according to the Inside Fraud Bulletin, it is among the most popular locations for holding offshore cash, alongside Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and the States.

The report also looked at what it called 'cut-out' countries, from which laundered funds are very difficult to trace back to their original source. Recipients of this dubious honour, according to Mr Walker's findings, were Mauritius, Vatican City, Macao, and Nauru, followed by Luxembourg, South Africa, and the Channel Islands.

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