The shell companies had been formed, bank accounts opened offshore by local counsel, and we were ready to roll. I picked up several clients, each dressed by yours truly for success in navy blue business suits or suitable dresses, and each carrying attache cases containing no clothing, but millions of dollars in hundreds.

Our cover was a business trip to the Caribbean, where we were ostensibly traveling to inspect a proposed site for a small manufacturing facility. We departed in a chartered Learjet from an obscure but conveniently located Fort Lauderdale general aviation airport; our chosen captain was a former World War Two bomber pilot who didn't mind carrying cash, though he wisely drew the line at drugs.

In the ten years that I conducted bulk-cash smuggling operations, not once were any of my flights out of the US interdicted. As we lifted off without incident, and soon exited American airspace, I soon learned that this method presented low risk of arrest.

During the flight, those who wanted to try their hand in the left front seat of the jet got their chance. I had learned to fly way back in the 1970s, whilst in law school. My primary instructor was a Vietnam veteran who had transferred over to the Coast Guard after the war. After a cold year serving in Antarctica, he was later killed on the field in Opa-Locka when a flying student in a helicopter collided with his aircraft. He survived Vietnam, only to die in a crash. 

We arrived in St. Martin two hours later, and stopped briefly, because where were going they didn't have jet fuel. More on the dual nature of St. Martin/Sint Maarten later. Nobody got off the aircraft; would you if you were carrying a fortune in cash ?

Fifteen minutes and five nautical miles later, we were over the adjacent tax haven, and our pilot performed a  barrel roll whilst we were drinking champagne, if only to show us that we wouldn't spill any of it. The runway seemed clear of animals and any other possible threats, so he put down the aircraft.

A small country with a religious population that had built eighty churches, but also with a couple hundred banks, most of whom had no bricks-and-mortar office; they were simply located inside the ten that did.

At customs, we were met by our lawyer, who would ferry us to the bank. Customs officials cautioned us to quickly close up the cases, lest they been seen by others arriving on more mundane business. After all, we were in part responsible for creating a whole new middle class of bank and trust company staff. Where these people had been fisherman, hotel cleaning crew, or some other low wage job, they were now part of a thriving financial service industry.

On into the tiny capital, and to a shopping centre the likes of which most onshore compliance officers never see; nothing for sale at retail, all banks, trust companies, lawyers' offices and corporate service firms.

Six million dollars, painstakingly run through counting machines and counterfeit detectors in the office of the president of the offshore bank. All the funds deposited into several corporate accounts, creating certificates of deposit. They actually charged a counting fee that was a small percentage; all part of the cost of doing business in a place where no questioned are asked.

An ocean-side lunch followed, at a cafe run by a Belgian couple; lobster and crayfish that had been just pulled from the water, accompanied by French champagne. After that, off we were back to the US; no documents on us, all had been left at our lawyer's office for safekeeping. All statements likewise went directly to his chambers, or were held, lest someone read our mail.

Of course, that cash never stayed in the Caribbean bank. A bonded courier soon picked up the money, now co-mingled with other bank deposits, and transported it to a major New York bank, into a correspondent account our bank maintained there. The US bank paid more interest to the Caribbean bank than my clients received, and that evening the money was lent out, at a higher rate still, to a Fortune 500 company.

Profits all around, without any risk, for both banks, and my clients were actually receiving interest on their drug profits. Everyone made money that day, except the American tax man, who was cheated out of substantial revenue.

These clients, who had started their drug smuggling business with a borrowed $5000 and a borrow  sailboat, would go on make $ 200m in the next decade, and my job was to assist them.

NEXT WEEK: My money laundering takes many forms, with many diverse clients.