Samenvatting

In this article, which serves as an introduction, the authors take a closer look at theoretical definitions as well as empirical manifestations of money laundering. They discuss the judicial definition and the often used theoretical distinction between ‘three stages’ of money laundering. Furthermore, the authors provide the reader with a quick overview of several forms of money laundering. This overview is based on actual criminal investigations. It covers the transfer of cash money and ‘concealed consumption’, both of which are frequently overlooked by authors who use the three stages model. Also ‘traditional’ forms of money laundering such as loan backs, abuse of legal trade, feigning gambling profit, structuring of real estate deals and ‘new’ forms, i.e. the use of bitcoins, are dealt with.