Follow the money, or so they say. How about tracking down the twisted journey of the scammed Probusinessbank funds? How is using them and are they by any chance recoverable? But before we can dive into it, here is a bit of theory for you.

Money laundering stands for a set of transactions intended to muddy the real origin of the funds and eventually “legalize” them. Money laundering is broken down into three stages: placement, layering, and integration.

First, you need to place your dirty money with a bank. Whether you pulled off a shady loan scheme, a grocery store heist, or a lucrative dope deal, you need to find a bank that will eagerly snag your cash and open an account for you—or maybe even accept a troubled loan.

But finding such banks is a tall order. After all, a million bucks stuffed into a duffel bag and powdered with a white substance may raise some red flags with the bankers. There are not exactly a lot of banks willing to credit dozens, if not hundreds, of millions of bucks to the newly minted account of a customer with no registered office address and a company size of two employees. Well-established banks normally want no part in the money-laundering machinations. So, you need to find the one that will turn a blind eye to any inconsistencies with either the customer or their money.

Once you have found the bank and credited the money, you start layering it. After all, crediting the money alone will not safeguard the deposited amount. The next audit will have it flagged as “suspicious”. What you want to do straight away is initiate a string of transactions that will result in having your money mixed up. You can transfer the money back and forth between companies and accounts, take out random loans, repay them, pay for the services, etc.

These transactions are all economically pointless. This money buys you nothing and covers nothing of any financial value. Instead, a ton of money is being ceaselessly and relentlessly reshuffled in a way that is ultimately misleading to the authorities so that it all seems to be well-earned in good faith.

At this stage, the embezzlers tend to stay out of transferring any amount of money to their accounts directly, which could eventually help link the laundered funds back to the original tainted money. It is this stage that features most slip-ups as the fraudsters may be tempted to nibble away at the shiny pie.

Myriad transactions later, the origin of the funds can be considered well-camouflaged and barely traceable. That is where the integration part kicks in as the embezzlers start transferring the money from the fishy shell firm accounts to well-reputed banks.

Regardless of where your money comes from, money-laundering is a serious felony. Whatever the motivation to draw a veil over it, shuffling the money back and forth between the shell companies to muddy its origin is an illegal stunt.

Money laundering directly affects the individuals whose money was stolen. But it also tangentially hurts the financial system, undermines people’s trust in the banking system, and chips away at taxpayer money, should the government have to make up for the losses. Hence the harsh sentences the advanced justice systems are slapping the launderers with.