5 of the World's Largest Money Laundering Cases

Money laundering is the act of concealing the origin of illegally obtained money through financial transactions, making it appear to come from legitimate activities.

This act is considered a criminal offense. In Indonesia, it is punishable by up to 15 years imprisonment and/or a fine of up to Rp2 billion.

According to Tookitaki, a provider of digital technology services for financial transaction monitoring, the following are the 5 largest money laundering cases in the world recorded to date:

1. Wachovia – US$390 billion (Rp 5.614.5 trillion)
2. Standard Chartered – US$265 billion (Rp 3.814.9 trillion)
3. Danske Bank – US$228 billion (Rp 3.282.3 trillion)
4. Nauru – US$70 billion (Rp 1.007.7 trillion)
5. BCCI – US$23 billion (Rp 331.1 trillion)

Tookitaki notes that the largest money laundering case in the world occurred at Wachovia Bank, a major bank in the United States (US).

In 2010, the bank was found to be involved in laundering US$390 billion of money belonging to Mexican drug cartels between 2004 and 2007.

The cartels reportedly smuggled cash from drug sales from the US to Mexico. There, they exchanged the money and deposited it into bank accounts in Mexico, before transferring it back to their accounts at Wachovia Bank.

At that time, regulations regarding bank deposits and source of funds checks were reportedly not as strict as they are today.