The following is in reference to a previous post:
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=89260

The reader describes one sort of transaction, but I imagine it becomes more complicated when the object is primarily to move money from one country to another, legitimizing it in the process. But the reader's description shows how modern art is an excellent vehicle for such nefarious transactions.

From anonymous reader:
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Mr. Fusion, you said this:

MrF says:
I still don't quite understand the money laundering system, even after reading the best explanation which is at the third link. I guess if you have the amounts of cash they're talking about, you can hire people to understand it for you.

Here's how it works. Person A (Wealthy Elite) contracts with Person B, for Person B to do a dirty illegal job (murder someone, obtain a child to molest, etc.) Person A, also arranges with some poor impoverished artist, that they will be paid, what will seem like to them an exorbitant amount of money for one of their pieces of art work, at an upcoming auction. In exchange for obtaining this exorbitant amount of money for their art work, artist keeps say 10% of proceeds while the rest of the money (proceeds from sale) are arranged to go to Person B (the Hitman).

This way Person A (Wealthy Elite) gets the murder they want, or the child they want to abuse, AND their is ZERO evidence that Person A ever paid for the murder/child obduction.

Starving Artist makes what to him is a TON of money, enough to live on for say 10 years, so he can keep painting.

Person B, (the Hitman) gets paid off for services rendered.

So the hitman gets his cut and the artist gets his cut.

This can also be done through the Art Dealer itself, who is the middle man and pays everyone off, so no risk that starving artist gets greedy and absconds with the whole amount.

This is usually done with Modern Art, because there is no history of its value, whereas ancient pieces do have a history of the prices, so if someone WAY over pays for the Mona Lisa for example, that will set off bells and sirens (red flags) that no one wants. Strange odd bizarre pieces of modern art, well "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", so there is a plausible deniability.

The same is true with the over payment of real estate, or anything else. Dirty money becomes clean.

I hope this helps.
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