GC: n
S: Europol (last access: 19 January 2026); FinCEN (last access: 27 January 2026).
N: 1. – money (n). mid-13c., monie, “funds, means, anything convertible into money;” c. 1300, “coinage, coin, metal currency,” from Old French monoie “money, coin, currency; change” (Modern French monnaie), from Latin moneta “place for coining money, mint; coined money, money, coinage.”
This is from Moneta, a title or surname of the Roman goddess Juno, near whose temple on the Capitoline Hill money was coined (and in which perhaps the precious metal was stored). The name is said to be from monere “advise, warn, admonish” (on the model of stative verbs in -ere; see monitor (n.)), by tradition with an etymological meaning “admonishing goddess,” which is sensible, but the etymology is difficult. A doublet of mint (n.2)).
Extended by early 19c. to include paper recognized and accepted as a substitute for coin. The highwayman’s threat your money or your life is attested by 1774. Phrase in the money (1902) originally referred to “one who finishes among the prize-winners” (in a horse race, etc.). The challenge to put (one’s) money where (one’s) mouth is is recorded by 1942 in African-American vernacular.
- moneys or monies plural : sums of money : funds.
– laundering (adj). In English, many past and present participles of verbs can be used as adjectives. From the verb “launder”. 1660s, “to wash linen,” from noun launder “one who washes” (especially linen), mid-15c., a contraction of lavender, from Old French lavandier “washer, launderer” (12c.), from Medieval Latin lavandaria “a washer,” which is ultimately from Latin lavare “to wash” (from PIE root *leue– “to wash”).
- Criminal banking sense first recorded 1961, from notion of making dirty money clean; the word in this sense was brought to widespread use during U.S. Watergate scandal, 1973. Related: Laundered; laundering.
2. Money laundering is the processing of criminal proceeds to disguise their illegal origin.This process is of critical importance, as it enables the criminal to enjoy these profits without jeopardizing their source.
Money laundering has been addressed in the UN Vienna 1988 Convention Article 3.1 describing Money Laundering as: “the conversion or transfer of property, knowing that such property is derived from any offense(s), for the purpose of concealing or disguising the illicit origin of the property or of assisting any person who is involved in such offense(s) to evade the legal consequences of his actions”.
3. There are 3 stages of money laundering:
- Placement (i.e. moving the funds from direct association with the crime)
- Layering (i.e. disguising the trail to foil pursuit)
- Integration (i.e. making the money available to the criminal from what seem to be legitimate sources)
4. Offences and crimes: money laundering offence, laundering proceeds of crime, money laundering.
- [Criminal Code.] Laundering proceeds of crime. Every one commits an offence who uses, transfers the possession of, sends or delivers to any person or place, transports, transmits, alters, disposes of or otherwise deals with, in any manner and by any means, any property or any proceeds of any property with intent to conceal or convert that property or those proceeds, knowing or believing that, or being reckless as to whether, all or a part of that property or of those proceeds was obtained or derived directly or indirectly as a result of (a) the commission in Canada of a designated offence; or (b) an act or omission anywhere that, if it had occurred in Canada, would have constituted a designated offence.
- money laundering offence: term used in the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act.
5. Offences and crimes; Taxation: money laundering.
- Methods by which the proceeds of crime are processed through the financial system and converted into clean money, which cannot be traced to the person originating the transaction or to the criminal origins of the funds.
6. Cultural Interrelation: There are many movies that portray money laundering. One example is The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), directed by Martin Scorsese.
S: 1. Etymonline (last access: 27 January 2026); MW (last access: 27 January 2026); Cambridge (last access: 27 January 2027). 2 & 3. UNODC (last access: 19 January 2026). 4 & 5. TERMIUM PLUS (last access: 27 January 2026). 6. IMDb (last access: 27 January 2026).
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CR: drug trafficking
