Crowd laundering

Note: this blog is about making world a better place - money laundering is not part of that.So take this as purely mental exercise and fun read with a twist at the end.

 I am not your typical criminal mastermind, and nor I have large sums of stained money. However, in a daily stream of ideas I tend to get, one was about using crowdsourcing to launder money.

And of all the crowd involving possibilities Kickstarter style funding intermediates sounds the best, at least on the surface. Imagine online funding project, that contains pledge to write some very niche book, preferably e-book, kind of book that real person would be unlikely to fund. And make smallest donation slightly above normal, to drive away already unlikely people. And then bring in some sort of bots to send in money. Or even better - ask your bribers, protection money debtors (can I say racketeerees?), customers of illegal substances, supporters of Nigerian princes in exile etc.

Of course, direct monetary link between criminal lord and his victims/other thugs would not be very good for long term sustainability of such business relationship. So, this strategy could be chained between several crowdsourcing sites and between them could also mix in sales of bogus antique items via online auctions and donations to charity.

... just realised that even breaking bad  similar laundering setup at one point of time ...

Anyway, scheme would end with local godfathers young nephew becoming raising star of local startup incubator. And as there are no direct bank-to-bank transactions (or they are less direct at least), also entities sending and receiving money are using small amounts, then traditional rules of monitoring financial institutions might be less of a help.

...so, as this is too similar to something that average TV script-whiter (*gasp*) can come up with, let me invent something grander ...

So, this of course takes ages to set up and involved links are not permanent - crowd sourcing campaigns can not last forever without producing anything meaningful, and lots of money donated to something that average slashdot geek would not like could also arise suspicion.

To fix all this there is a clear need for  large wholesale provider of laundering schemes via crowd sourcing. So, lets crowd source something grand. Like a great hollywood style movie. Full blown movie, costing millions of dollars. Independent and Indy, yet full of special efects, actors, scenes to build, sounds to record, etc.

Put it on a kickstarter, and start selling the possibility to launder. Bring in first thousands of dollars for a fee of say 25%, use those 25% to build a great movie trailer. Spend 75% on 'special effects' and other supplies at godfathers nephew owned shops. If movie idea turns out to be not very good - close down shop and try something else. If it is perceived good, then money would start trickling in. At first match every dollar donated, with one or two to launder. Later, stop laundering intake and start to concentrate on actual movie, so at the end there would be around 20-25% of money laundered (and already given back to owners), while remaining would part be used to actually produce a movie, as that is costly business.

Movie stars, directors and other involved persons need not to know anything about the dirty part of the deal. All they have to know is that they are part of great European movie industry revival.

And that movie is about eastern European mafia learning new technologies, partying in London and having dynastic marriages with Sicillians.

C'mon - there are billions of euros waiting for an enterprising movie launderer! It is Europe!