Exposed Money Laundering Tactics from Ozark - Was Marty A Genius?
Would ‘Ozark’s money laundering methods survive today’s AML Laws? Find it out by yourself.
Is money laundering a piece of cake? This a question that knocks brains after watching the TV series ‘Ozark’. Another thought-awakening realization that struck after watching ‘Ozark’ was why law enforcement agencies struggle to catch these predators who play with the global economy and peace through drug trafficking and laundering those drug proceeds.
We at AML Watcher do not encourage anyone to attempt financial crimes inspired by such series but create awareness of anti-money laundering (AML) compliance and understand the sensitivity of its essentiality in the real world.
Contributing to the cause, we compiled a comprehensive video on our YouTube channel where money laundering methods shown in ‘Ozark’ were debunked, questioning the reliability of implementing such money laundering techniques in real.
Let’s watch it together so we may move forward to exploring the nuances of the iconic plot of Ozark and the criminalistics lore of Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman) who goes a long way from being a financial advisor in Chicago to laundering drug proceeds of Navarro drug cartel in Mexico.
A Brief Overview of Marty Byrde’s Journey
Before digging deeper into money laundering methods Marty Byrde used in the series, in case you have not happened to watch the series yet, be with me while I quickly review the thrilling character of laundering genius Marty.
“The only way to keep the cartel happy and keep ourselves alive is to make that dirty money clean”. Marty Byrde
The central lead of the series films a financial advisor Marty who enters into the turbid waters of money laundering after his partner embezzles drug money for a heroin drug cartel and loses his life.
Playing a dual role swinging between a moral family man and an asset for the organized drug mafia, Marty moves out with his family to the scenic lakes of the Ozarks to launder $8 million of drug money for a Mexican drug cartel.
Marty strives to protect his family throughout the series and leverages his financial expertise to devise clever money laundering tactics. Let’s explore these methods in detail and analyze why one should not take inspiration from Marty and end up with legal troubles.
Outdated Ways Marty Laundered Money in ‘Ozark’
1. Buying Businesses From ‘My Dripping Sleep’
Money laundering is a criminal act of cleaning illicit money and making it spendable without attracting regulatory and law enforcement authorities. Marty who is portrayed as a criminal mastermind in the series, buys several businesses in the Ozarks that serve as a perfect cover to legitimize drug money.
He critically analyzes the economic situation in the town and decides to buy businesses including Blue Cat Lodge (a lakeside resort), Lickety Splitz (a local strip club), Missouri Belle riverboat casino, a funeral home, and several other real estate properties.
Buying cash-intensive businesses perfectly works for Marty in the series as the businesses offer a legal funnel to interwind business revenues and targeted money to be laundered. Let’s take a look at a short YouTube clip explaining the mystery behind buying a business to CLEAN DIRTY MONEY.
How useful are these cash-intensive businesses particularly casinos as explained by Marty in Episode 4 of Season 1? Can you launder your dirty money by hiding behind the casinos? Let’s explore more.
Regulatory Implications on Casinos
Failure of anti-money laundering controls in the Crown Resorts faced one of the largest AML fines in Australia and agreed to pay $450 million for overlooking standard AML laws as required.
Casinos are obligated to follow strict AML measures, conduct KYC/AML screening, and report any suspicious transaction activities or face severe legal and monetary consequences.
Will you still take advice from Ozark to clean whatever illegal money you want to clean? Think again.
2. Secrets of Offshore Maneuvers
The plot continues to reflect the use of several offshore accounts in jurisdictions with lenient regulatory scrutiny allowing Marty to hide the source of the financial influx he was aimed to launder for the drug cartel.
He sends and receives laundered money by using those accounts with fake beneficiaries while the anonymity of such accounts is difficult to flag in the security ledger.
The series takes a shocking turn when a bystander character Jonah Byrde, son of Marty gets inspired by his father’s criminalistics ventures and opens offshore accounts with fake credentials.
Watch with me the iconic scene of Jonah explaining how he cleaned the money while Marty seems proud of him and his mother bursts into laughter.
You might be thinking if a teenager boy can open offshore accounts and launder money then why can’t you. Here’s the answer to the whispered question.
Regulatory Implications on Offshore Accounts
For overlooking the required AML measures and suspicious transactions through several accounts, HSBC Holdings (HSBC) was imposed with $1.9 billion fine marking it one of the major AML fines issued by the United States.
If you think offshore accounts can help you launder money in 2024 then you are actually working with 1940s thinking. The evolving regulatory restrictions of financial institutions particularly banks have made them employ advanced screening and monitoring tools to curb increasing crimes.
3. Small Deposits for Big Laundering (Smurfing)
Before analyzing another money laundering method used in ‘Ozark’, let’s binge watch below short clip together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRq6eGDR6Kc
Another interesting character of the series, Wendy (Marty’s wife) can be seen updating Marty on employing smurfers who break down huge cash into smaller deposits which is called smurfing.
Smurfing allows Marty to not attract law enforcement and generate AML red flags upon breaching transaction threshold of more than $10,000.
What makes smurfing not an ideal solution to launder dirty money? Let’s look at it through the eyes of legislation.
Regulatory Implications on Smurfing
Smurfing is a resource intensive method where one needs rigorous coordination to initiate multiple transactions leading to possible errors. You can go for smurfing if you have tons to lose.
Abiding by the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), financial institutions are required to monitor transactions and report suspicious transactions with similar patterns causing red flags in AML screening tools.
Time to Wrap It Up!
Having the loopholes of these outdated money laundering techniques exposed, it will not be idle to say that money laundering in fictional world is way more complicated than in fictional world. It seems like a piece of cake but is it really?
Where financial fraudsters employ advanced technology to invent new methods to carefully launder their dirty money, compliance measures has seen a spike for institutions making it hard to balance operational and scrutiny control.
I might have a different perception of Marty’s laundering ways but if you could launder money, what different and undetectable money laundering methods you would choose?
Share your creative thoughts in the comment section below and follow us for more intriguing insights on the art of financial crimes.
