Pecunia non olet
For the non Latin readers: “Money does not smell”. In the Roman empire a urine tax was introduced for public toilets in Rome. When critics laughed at the idea the emperor mentioned that the coins did not smell, even though they originated from urinating. Money launderers seem to live by that phrase and do not care/do not want to know what the dirty origin of the money is.
Since a lot of criminal proceeds is cash based, we see a lot of paper bills stored in strange places. Sometimes money has been in storage for so long that is so moldy that it is no longer usable. Or really smelly.
What about this one; it was not the money that was dirty, but the launderer hiself. A man drew attention to himself because of a foul odor, possibly linked to fertilizer, when he went into the bank with his cash. A teller vomited. Customers complained. Authorities investigated the “case” and the Internal Revenue Service revealed a drug operation involving high-potency marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms. Perhaps the man went straight from fertilizing to laundering without changing clothes and washing hands (or cash). He probably did not even think about the posiblity that dogs could pickup the smell from drugs on bills (although this does not stick as proof in court that the money is derived from crime). He does not face drug charges, but he is accused of laundering cash in dozens of transactions totaling nearly $500,000 in 2007 and 2008.
Lesson learned: look fresh, smell like roses. Wash your hands, wash your cash before you launder it? Anyone heard of “mani pulliti”?
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/04/27/ap/strange/main4972439.shtml
In the money laundering world this phrase is commonly used
