Laundering money - the sporting way

Money Laundering - as we know - is one of the most thriving businesses the world over. In these troubled times, it is all the more prevalent with newer players and more creative means cropping up every day.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has come out with an interesting report on money laundering through football.

See here http://www.fatf-gafi.org/dataoecd/7/41/43216572.pdf

The report lists out the various ways in which the game of soccer is used for ML and also provides some interesting rationale behind the various items. Any sport that is rich - soccer, tennis, cricket (in the sub-continent), racing .... automatically attracts a slew of money spinning supplementary activities. However, it also attracts the money launderers who not only are attracted to the 'star value' but also the trans national money flows.

In these recessionary times, banks and financial institutions are coming under increased scrutiny and also tightening internal procedures and checks. So, where do the crooks go? With increased unemployment, there is bound to be an increase in sports views and also the resilience of games like football to sustain their rich cash treasure chests. You only have to look at the phenomenal prices being paid for top players to gauge the fact that sports remain largely unaffected by the downturn.

So, with the Corporates and banks scaling down their expenses and looking to cut costs- there seems to be ample scope for ML industry to increase their participation in sport!