Introduction and a Short History

Criminals acquire property by or from their crimes. That is why they do it. It would be good if they could be stopped from enjoying the property and, if instead it was able to be acquired by the State and put to good use, building hospitals and schools or even paying for policing, prosecution, and prisons. It would be better yet if the additional policing effort that was involved could come at no cost to the taxpayer because it was subsumed into the general running expenses and corporate governance procedures of major financial institutions. It would be marvellous if one of the effects of stopping criminals enjoying the property they acquire would be to deter them or others from committing crimes. These simple considerations gave rise to money laundering law. They also gave rise to a crime—money laundering—and a bureaucracy—the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) industry—both of which have grown rapidly and in unforeseen ways.