Good morning pedes! When I was house shopping in 2020, I noticed a weird phenomena that may have been going on for an unknown amount of time. I was seeing houses that were selling for the "going rate", but when I looked into the prior sales history, there would be buyer A who bought at the "going rate" from seller A (up to a few years in the past, then buyer A would sell it to buyer B for an incredibly reduced amount, and then buyer B would sell it at the present "going rate". It didn't seem like cases of "foreclosure-house trashed by occupant-then sold and re-modeled, and then sold at going rate", and it seemed like it could be a money laundering scheme, so much so, that I contacted the local FBI office (before I knew about how corrupt they have become) to report what I had observed, but never heard back from them :) If the first two parties involved are in on it, then it seems that it could be a way to launder money. There could be the "tax loss tax savings" on the first sale, and since there is not capital gains tax now, the second sale would have no income tax implications. I was just looking at mostly one county in NY, so the potential totals across a wider area could be massive. What say you?
Comments (11)
sorted by:
Yes houses have been a way to launder money for ages.
Australian Examples https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/nov/09/widespread-money-laundering-in-property-locking-out-australians-from-owning-homes-senate-told
https://www.austrac.gov.au/business/how-comply-guidance-and-resources/guidance-resources/strategic-analysis-brief-money-laundering-through-real-estate-2015
Canadian Example https://financialpost.com/diane-francis/diane-francis-shining-a-light-on-money-laundering-in-canadian-real-estate
London Example https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/08/how-the-kazakh-elite-put-its-wealth-into-uk-property
This looks like actions by possibly law-abiding people, I'm wondering if organized crime could be using this scheme to launder many, many millions.
Yea it is just google it.
I wasn't thinking in terms of "legal" money laundering, for tax purposes, conducted by "regular" citizens, I was thinking in terms of an organized crime effort to use this as a way to launder illegal funds.
Here is a handy guide to spot it :-) https://www.cresinsurance.com/money-laundering-in-real-estate/
Drug cartels, con artists, and corrupt foreign governments can purchase a property in the United States for millions of dollars in cash with little to no reporting.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247512473_Organized_crime_money_laundering_and_the_real_estate_market_in_Canada
https://www.yourmortgage.com.au/mortgage-news/dirty-money-could-be-entering-the-housing-market-expert-says
https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/14991-report-u-s-real-estate-is-no-1-destination-for-laundered-dirty-money
Or if you like a report from Interpol that shows property as a seized asset
https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/17-arrests-in-spain-for-large-scale-drug-trafficking-and-money-laundering
Different scam but Obama's Chicago home purchase was essentially a money laundering scam. Let's face it, the government and political class in this country are a criminal syndicate.
When you see the rampant crime, at all levels of society, the wanton immorality, blatant injustice, etc., etc., it really seems like our country is living up to the description of various times/places in the Bible, right before God decided He has had enough.
Worse is the manipulation of the housing market. Wall St. ran out of things to securitize (i.e. rape and pillage) so they went after single family homes.
Russell Brand actually did a very tight analysis of how this maneuver is part of the Great Reset agenda where “you’ll own nothing, and be happy.”
7:38 minute video: https://youtu.be/BXTPzFSx6oI
I think you're onto something. There are companies placing houses they don't own on sell lists. They troll foreclosure notices and other media and then list the house as if they own it and it's for sale at an inflated price they promise to bargain down from. This happened to me and I called to stop it. Never got an American to speak to, and nobody would allow me to speak to an actual rep who knew what was going on. I threatened to sue unless they took the ad down and they finally did.
The FBI told me in my state they only handle cases worth 10 million and more.
Their resources are strapped so that there is so much crime they just cannot attend to. That would be the rank and file.
Then there are the rest....DS
Yes, having a bunch of 100,000 to 200,000 transactions would allow them to stay "below the radar". What I didn't have time to do is look into who the buyers and sellers were to see if there was any commonality, but if they were smart, which they presumably are, they would make sure it appeared that different people were owners and buyers.