The Laundrymen: Money Laundering the World's Third Largest Business

I really enjoyed The Laundrymen, I was surprised by the amount of detail it contains and found it a compelling read. Sometimes I had to draw diagrams to understand the money flows that the author describes, when the shell companies and banks span a half-dozen countries.

This is a review of the updated 1998 edition of this book. This book is a very interesting read on world crime. The book details, quite correctly I imagine, the fact that the motivation behind most organised crime is one thing - MONEY!The best way to hit back at organised crime is confiscate the proceeds and benifits of crime, money and assets. Unfortuntley, the criminals today are a sophisticated (at the top) as the people chasing them. There are also many countries, who lacking other resources fall back on "confidental" financial services as a way to make a living. In many ways it's hard to blame these smaller countries and economies going into the money laundring business as globalisation and the corporate greed of the 1st world economies marginalise "traditional" economies and communities. It's a fact of life that people will make money any way they can - and if you are desperate enough you'll take the illegal or semi-illegal route.This book takes you into the murky world of swiss banking - and it's NOT like the movies. Numbered bank accounts are a thing of the past. How the columbians got shot in the foot when they set up the mexican drug trade in a fit of diversification.It also details how while crime has gone global in a big way, law enforcement has only done so sparodically, and not much will change until international co-operation is better organised.This book just goes to prove that you can do a lot with banks if you are willing to pay the fees, know the world's tax havens (and their limitations) - and that cash is not always king (because then you need to go through the bother of washing it).An illuminating and frightening book, which I'm sure is just the tip of the iceberg.

Jeffrey Robinson knows more about money than any freelance writer has a right to! I've read Robinson's fiction, and this reads like a novel. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your relationship to laundered money), this is a true account of the way money makes the world go round (and vice versa). An amazing accomplishment.

While it is very difficult to find, you should find a way to get it. Reading this book changed my outlook on the world.

This has got to be the definitive book on money laundering. Not only does it read like a novel, but it's a book which has opened my eyes to a world I'd never imagined. They're out there... and now I know who "they" is. Wow!