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South American Money Launderers Increasingly Turning to Securities, Says IRS Official
printSecurities transactions are increasingly being used by South American drug traffickers to launder illicit proceeds, says Manny Muriel, an attaché in the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Bogota, Colombia office. The complex nature of securities allows criminals to bypass transaction thresholds and conceal the original source of funds, he said. Money exchange houses are also often used to disguise illegal funds in Colombia and elsewhere, Muriel noted, adding that oversight of the banking industry is driving drug traffickers to use the money services businesses. Muriel, who began his career as a special agent of the agency's Chicago office, also spoke about controls...
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