Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking , corruption , embezzlement or gambling , by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions with varying definitions. It is usually a key operation of organized crime .
In United States law, money laundering is the practice of engaging in financial transactions to conceal the identity, source, or destination of illegally gained money. In United Kingdom law, the common law definition is wider. The act is defined as "taking any action with property of any form which is either wholly or in part the proceeds of a crime that will disguise the fact that that property is the proceeds of a crime or obscure the beneficial ownership of said property".
In the past, the term "money laundering" was applied only to financial transactions related to organized crime . Today its definition is often expanded by government and international regulators such as the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to mean "any financial transaction which generates an asset or a value as the result of an illegal act," which may involve actions such as tax evasion or false accounting . In the UK, it does not need to involve money, but any economic good . Courts involve mo