Here are some more “legal explainers.”
Lately, I’ve been tossing around the term “money laundering,” but it suddenly occurred to me I only have a vague notion of what that crime actually entails. In looking for answers, I came across these awesome explainers, expertly and engagingly written by Randall Eliason, a law professor at George Washington University specializing in white collar crime. He is also a contributing columnist at The Washington Post and a former federal prosecutor.
While nailing down the legal definition of money laundering, Professor Eliason uses some examples from the Mueller probe – since these pieces were written last year, some of those examples are from the same time frame, but his explanations are as relevant as ever – in fact, you can immediately apply them to the recent Paul Erickson indictment.
Part 1 covers domestic money laundering:
Part 2 focuses on international money laundering:
And here’s a “bonus explainer” on RICO, the body of laws related to racketeering. Writing in January, 2018, Eliason explains that, knowing what we knew at the time, the RICO statutes would probably not apply in the Mueller investigation. However, after reading this, and knowing what we know now, it seems to me that we are much closer to a point where the RICO laws might come into play – especially in regards to David Pecker’s National Enquirer, considering the multiple allegations of extortion and blackmail that have been leveled against it (see @matt’s “The Showdown: Bezos vs A.M.I.” in Day 750).