Illegal arms sales, smuggling, and organised crime such as drug trafficking, people trafficking and prostitution rings, can generate huge amounts of money, as can ‘white collar crimes’ including, insider trading, bribery and computer fraud schemes.
Those involved in these types of activities need to be able to ‘legitimize’ their ill-gotten gains so that they can benefit from the money they are earning. Money laundering is the process by which criminals attempt to integrate illegally obtained cash into the financial system so that it appears to have been earned legitimately.
