How large of a problem is money laundering in the world today?
By its nature, money laundering is a concealed activity that occurs outside of the normal range of economic statistics. Nevertheless, rough estimates have been put forward by various government agencies that provide some sense of scale to the problem. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), for example, has stated that the aggregate size of money laundering in the world could be somewhere between two (2%) and five (5%) percent of the worlds gross domestic product. Using 2003 statistics published by the IMF, these percentages would indicate that money laundering range between $725 billion and $1.8 trillion. While this data is general, it is clear that money laundering PricewaterhouseCoopers, in its Economic Crime Survey 2003, indicated that one in six banks reported having uncovered money laundering during the previous two years and that 216 financial services organizations had reported suspicious transactions during the previous two years, with one in five reporting more than 10 suspici
