Clean on Paper

The case files

Every case page covers what happened, which techniques were used, how it was found, the outcome, and what changed afterwards.

  1. Al Capone and the Money Laundering Myth

    Al Capone was convicted of tax crimes in 1931, not money laundering, and the laundromat origin story is folklore: the phrase came into use decades later.

    1931–1982

  2. Operation Polar Cap (La Mina)

    A 1989 US operation dismantled a network that laundered about US$1.2 billion for the Medellín cartel by disguising drug cash as gold and jewelry sales, leading to 127 indictments.

    1987–1989 ≈ US$1.2 billion laundered

  3. BCCI

    A bank built on layers of holding companies and nominees laundered drug money, was closed worldwide on July 5, 1991, and reshaped bank supervision.

    1972–1991 Operations in 73 countries

  4. Riggs Bank Anti-Money Laundering Case

    Riggs Bank, a Washington bank that served embassies, paid $25 million to US regulators in 2004 and pleaded guilty in 2005 to a felony over unreported suspicious transactions.

    1994–2005 $25 million civil + $16 million criminal

  5. Banco Delta Asia and FinCEN Section 311

    A 2005 US Treasury finding against Macau's Banco Delta Asia led to a Macau takeover, about $25 million of frozen North Korea-linked funds and a 2007 US rule.

    2005–2020 About $25 million frozen

  6. Wachovia

    In 2010 Wachovia admitted it failed to monitor more than US$420 billion in transactions with Mexican exchange houses and paid US$160 million, a record Bank Secrecy Act penalty at the time.

    2004–2008 > US$420 billion unmonitored

  7. Lebanese Canadian Bank Laundering Case

    In 2011 US authorities alleged that Lebanese Canadian Bank helped move drug money through used-car exports to West Africa, and the bank was closed and its assets sold within months.

    2007–2015 $329 million wired (alleged); $102 million forfeited

  8. HSBC and the Sinaloa cartel

    Weak controls let Mexican and Colombian cartels move at least $881 million in drug money through HSBC, which paid a then-record $1.92 billion in 2012 to defer prosecution.

    2006–2012 US$1.92 billion penalty

  9. Standard Chartered Sanctions Case

    Standard Chartered resolved US sanctions and AML cases in 2012, 2014 and 2019, ending with a combined settlement of over US$1.1 billion after Iran-linked dollar payments cleared through New York.

    2001–2014 ≈ US$1.1 billion combined in 2019

  10. Liberty Reserve

    A Costa Rica-based digital currency with no identity checks, shut down in 2013 in a 17-country operation after prosecutors said it laundered more than US$6 billion.

    2006–2013 US$6 billion alleged laundering (DOJ, 2013)

  11. The Russian and Troika Laundromats

    Two exposed schemes moved money out of Russia through offshore shell companies and small banks: about US$20 billion via fake loans and Moldovan courts, and US$8.8 billion via Troika Dialog.

    2006–2014 ≈ US$20 billion and US$8.8 billion

  12. 1MDB

    More than US$4.5 billion was diverted from Malaysia's state fund through offshore shell companies into luxury property and Hollywood films, toppling a prime minister and costing Goldman Sachs billions.

    2009–2020 ≈ US$4.5 billion diverted

  13. Nordea Anti-Money Laundering Cases

    Nordea was fined in Sweden (2013, 2015) and New York (2024), and was fined DKK 155 million in Denmark in November 2026 after a trial over about 26 billion kroner of suspicious payments from 2012 to 2015.

    2008–2019 DKK 26 billion charged (Denmark)

  14. Panama Papers

    A 2016 leak of 11.5 million files from Mossack Fonseca exposed 214,488 offshore entities and showed how shell companies hide who owns what.

    2016–2024 11.5 million leaked records

  15. Commonwealth Bank and AUSTRAC

    Commonwealth Bank admitted 53,750 breaches of Australia's AML law, mostly tied to cash deposit machines, and paid a then-record A$700 million civil penalty in 2018.

    2012–2018 A$700 million civil penalty

  16. Deutsche Bank Mirror Trades

    Deutsche Bank's Moscow and London desks ran matching stock trades that turned rubles into dollars offshore, moving about US$10 billion out of Russia and drawing fines from New York and London in 2017.

    2011–2015 ≈ US$10 billion moved out of Russia

  17. ABLV Bank and FinCEN Section 311

    A 2018 US Treasury finding against Latvia's ABLV Bank triggered a deposit run, an ECB failure ruling and liquidation, and was withdrawn in 2024.

    2012–2018 About $4.6 billion in assets (2017)

  18. Danske Bank Estonia

    About €200 billion flowed through the Estonian branch of Denmark's biggest bank between 2007 and 2015, much of it suspicious non-resident money hidden behind UK shell companies.

    2007–2015 ≈ €200 billion suspicious flows

  19. ING Bank Money Laundering Settlement

    In September 2018 ING paid €775 million to Dutch prosecutors after accounts at its Dutch bank were used to launder hundreds of millions of euros between 2010 and 2016.

    2010–2016 €775 million settlement (2018)

  20. Rabobank Calexico and Dutch Prosecution

    Rabobank's California unit pleaded guilty in 2018 to obstructing its US regulator over weak controls on Mexican cash, and the Dutch parent now faces a separate criminal case at home.

    2009–2013 (US); 2016 onward (Netherlands) $368.7 million forfeited (2018)

  21. The Vancouver Model

    Drug cash lent to Chinese high-roller gamblers through underground banks, washed through BC casinos and real estate, and repaid in China.

    2010s–2022 est. C$7.4 billion in BC (2018)

  22. Swedbank Baltic Scandal

    A Swedish TV report in 2019 led to a SEK 4 billion fine for Swedbank over weak controls on high-risk Baltic customers, and to US probes that closed in 2026.

    2007–2019 SEK 4 billion fine (2020)

  23. Westpac and AUSTRAC

    Westpac admitted over 23 million breaches of Australia's AML law, including 19.5 million unreported international transfers, and paid a record A$1.3 billion civil penalty in 2020.

    2013–2020 A$1.3 billion civil penalty

  24. FinCEN Files

    A 2020 leak of more than 2,100 suspicious activity reports showed large banks moving suspect money, and helped push the US to its biggest AML overhaul in decades.

    1999–2021 ≈ US$2 trillion flagged

  25. ABN AMRO Money Laundering Settlement

    In April 2021 ABN AMRO paid €480 million to Dutch prosecutors for years of weak customer checks and late reports, but the later cases against its former directors ended without trial.

    2014–2020 €480 million settlement (2021)

  26. Credit Suisse Anti-Money Laundering Cases

    Credit Suisse faced a Swiss regulator ruling in 2018, a 2021 Mozambique fraud settlement and a 2022 Swiss conviction in a Bulgarian drug-money case that was later overturned.

    2004–2026 ≈ $475 million paid (Mozambique, 2021)

  27. The Bitfinex hack laundering

    A married couple spent five years laundering 119,754 bitcoin stolen from the Bitfinex exchange, and the blockchain recorded every move.

    2016–2025 119,754 BTC

  28. Cross-chain bridge hacks

    Bridges that move value between blockchains hold huge pools of funds, and the 2022 thefts from Ronin, Harmony, Wormhole and Nomad show how thieves launder them and how investigators respond.

    2022–2023 ≈ US$2 billion stolen from bridges in 2022 (Chainalysis, by August)

  29. Garantex Exchange Takedown

    A Moscow-based crypto exchange sanctioned in 2022 and taken offline in 2025, which US prosecutors say processed at least US$96 billion and which moved to a successor, Grinex.

    2019–2025 US$96 billion+ processed (DOJ, 2025)

  30. Hydra Market Takedown (2022)

    The world's largest darknet market, shut down by German police in April 2022, with about US$5.2 billion in crypto received since 2015 and its own in-house mixer.

    2015–2022 ≈ US$5.2 billion received (DOJ, 2022)

  31. Lazarus Group

    North Korea's state hackers have stolen roughly US$6.75 billion in cryptocurrency and launder it at a speed no other criminal group matches.

    2016–present ≈ US$6.75 billion stolen

  32. Tornado Cash

    The first sanctioned crypto mixer, a court ruling that limited the sanctions, and a developer trial whose outcome will define liability for privacy code.

    2019–present ≈ US$7 billion+ mixed (OFAC, 2022)

  33. Binance

    The world's largest crypto exchange pleaded guilty to AML and sanctions failures and paid about US$4.3 billion, and its founder was later pardoned.

    2017–2023 ≈ US$4.3 billion in penalties

  34. ChipMixer Takedown (2023)

    A darknet bitcoin mixing service that the US said processed over US$3 billion, seized by US and German police in March 2023 while its alleged operator stayed out of reach.

    2017–2023 US$3 billion+ processed (DOJ, 2023)

  35. TD Bank

    The first US bank to plead guilty to money laundering conspiracy paid about US$3.09 billion after three networks moved over US$670 million through its accounts.

    2018–2024 ≈ US$3.09 billion in penalties

  36. Bybit Hack (2025)

    The largest crypto theft on record: about US$1.46 billion taken from an exchange in February 2025, attributed by the FBI to North Korea's TraderTraitor and laundered within weeks.

    February 2025 onward ≈ US$1.46 billion stolen (Bybit, 2025)

  37. Huione and Prince Group

    A Cambodian financial group and a conglomerate tied to forced-labor scam compounds drew the largest sanctions and forfeiture actions ever aimed at Southeast Asian scam networks.

    2021–present ≈ US$4 billion (Huione); 127,271 BTC seized (Prince)

  38. KuCoin

    A top-five crypto exchange grew by telling users that ID checks were optional. In 2025 its operator pleaded guilty in New York and paid more than US$297 million.

    2017–2025 ≈ US$297 million in US criminal penalties

  39. OKX

    One of the world's largest crypto exchanges pleaded guilty in 2025 to running an unlicensed money transmitting business and paid more than US$504 million.

    2017–2025 ≈ US$504 million in penalties