Of all the many irresponsible things that are being suggested by DA Ronnie Earle and the MSM about the DeLay case, one of the most irresponsible seems to be that Rep. DeLay and his two co-defendants stand accused of having engaged in money laundering, or, worse, that they actually appear to have engaged in money laundering.
Money laundering essentially involves transacting in the proceeds of crime (referred to under federal law as “specified unlawful activity”). You do not commit “money laundering” by transacting in, or changing the ownership of, legitimate funds. The money has to be illegally obtained in the first place before it can be “laundered” – which is fundamental since the whole purpose of laundering it is to shed or disguise its illegal character.
There is an exception that is inapplicable here – called “structuring.” This occurs when one engages in cash transactions in a form designed to circumvent financial reporting requirements. (The classic case is the drug dealer who makes 5 deposits of $9900 dollars rather than 1 deposit of about $50K in order to cause a bank to fail to file currency transaction reports which are required for all cash transactions of $10K or more.)
As Barbara Comstock and today’s NRO editorial point out, each transaction in the chain alleged against DeLay appears to have been legal. More to the point for money laundering purposes, though, even Earle does not allege that the money involved was generated illegally. He alleges (wrongly, I believe) that legitimate money was spent illegally. That’s not money laundering.
A corporate officer who uses his regular salary to buy stock based on inside information may be guilty of felony insider trading, but he is not guilty of money laundering. Alternatively, if I used legit money to buy some antiques that I then traded for a car which I sold so I could give the proceeds to you as a loan, I have changed the form of the asset several times, but I have not engaged in money laundering.
The whole case seems bogus, but the money laundering talk is really irresponsible.