MONEY LAUNDERER by Kenneth Rijock
Opportunity sometimes arrives unexpectedly, as did mine. In 1994, I received a call from a sergeant in the intelligence division of a police department in Florida. He had an unusual request; would I be interested in lecturing on the subject of money laundering before a state-wide organisation of law enforcement agents involved in acquiring intelligence about criminal activities in their respective jurisdictions. He wanted me to tell the story of my experiences over the previous fifteen years, and to lecture on money laundering tradecraft, the actual techniques and strategies I employed on behalf of my narco-clients. At first, the idea sounded ominous. How could I possibly stand up before a room full of law enforcement officers who knew full well that I had been convicted of, and did prison time for, the serious crime of racketeering? I am no shrinking violet, but these people had been, until I decided to cooperate with law enforcement during my incarceration, my adversaries, and they were sworn to bring me to justice, meaning arrest and conviction. Furthermore, I was being asked to appear at their annual conference, meaning that I would be the "odd man out," or sole non-law enforcement type at the event. Classes given to attendees at such conferences generally contain information restricted to law enforcement, and I would be barred from sitting in. This means I would be sitting around for a while, under the watchful eye of some of the officers. Does this sound like something you would like to do? I was apprehensive about the reception I would receive from the attendees, but agreed to appear.
Here is how it went that day:
- I was escorted into the room, and felt hundreds of eyes upon me, more out of curiosity than anything else, I suppose, but as I felt at that time, mostly hostile. Most law enforcement officers do not distinguish between narcotics traffickers, and their money laundering facilitators; they rightfully regard them as enablers of the drug traffickers.
- Beginning with a lengthy narrative of how I first became involved with narco-criminals, I detailed the strengths, and weaknesses of the various major kingpins I represented, and what my role was in serving their illicit financial needs.
- First, I detailed how I used bulk cash smuggling to take narcotics proceeds into placement in a cooperating tax haven, through layering in a number of offshore financial centres, and into integration as investments, or accounts in countries in the European Union or the Far East.
- Next, I discussed the various uses of cash-intensive domestic businesses to place criminal cash into a legitimate enterprise, and hide it amongst day-to-day receipts. the pump up the profitability of the company, and later fraudulently sell it to unsuspecting businessmen at a huge profit. Only later does the purchaser realise that he's been had.
- Then, I covered the so-called commission salesman method; this involves a captive company with large physical inventory hiring on the criminals as sales staff who shortly begin earning large commissions as highly-successful independent contractors for the company. In reality, they are receiving back a portion of the criminal cash they delivered to the money launderer. They later pay income taxes upon their earnings, and leaving their life of crime, seamlessly integrate themselves into legitimate society, Eventually, all traces of their previous criminal existence disappears, leaving investigators with only a dead end. Unless there is a continuing criminal conspiracy, the Statute of Limitations will later bar prosecution.
- Another topic I talked about was the purchase of rare antiques and fine art, both of which exist in an industry where cash is king, records of sellers are seldom detailed for tax reasons, and the average law enforcement agent is unable to determine whether the old painting in the backseat of the client's automobile is merely an old copy, or an Old Masters worth millions of dollars. Antiques are even more esoteric as instruments utilised to convert drug profits into low-profile items that can be carried over long distances, and later redeemed, with no questions asked.
- I finished up the session by discussing, one by one, the appropriate money laundering uses of each Caribbean Tax Haven I worked out of, and those that I avoided, and why, a Cook's Tour, if you will, of the better jurisdictions for crime, passed along by word of mouth, amongst money launderers, as favoured spots to move dirty cash, and who could, and could not, be counted upon to assist you there.
- Giving up all this proprietary information, for the first time in my life, was a constructive, and even cleansing, experience. I had finally "come out of the closet" with my laundering tactics, and given all to those people who would use the information to enforce the law. I felt good about myself for the first time in years. I was now part of the solution; no longer part of the problem.
Was I paid for this? Only a reimbursement of travel expenses. Most of the work I did over the next few years for law enforcement agencies in the US, Canada and overseas was not done for material gain, but to pass on my hard-earned tradecraft to investigators, so that they could catch money launderers. It was not about money this time around, it was about turning around my life, from career criminal to financial crime consultant.
Next week: Moving forward.
The facts and opinions stated in this article are those of the author and not those of World-Check. World-Check does not warrant the accuracy of any facts and opinions stated in this article, does not endorse them, and accepts no responsibility for them.
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