Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in the context of Constitution Center (Washington, D.C.)

Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds into a seemingly legitimate source, usually through a front organization. Money laundering is ipso facto illegal; the acts generating the money almost always are themselves criminal in some way (for if not, the money would not need to be laundered). As financial crime has become more complex and financial intelligence is more important in combating international crime and terrorism, money laundering has become a prominent political, economic, and legal debate. Most countries implement some anti-money-laundering measures.

In the past, the term "money laundering" was applied only to financial transactions related to organized crime. Today its definition is often expanded by government and international regulators such as the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to mean "any financial transaction which generates an asset or a value as the result of an illegal act," which may involve actions such as tax evasion or false accounting. In the UK, it does not need to involve money, but any economic good. Courts involve money laundering committed by private individuals, drug dealers, businesses, corrupt officials, members of criminal organizations such as the Mafia, and even states.

In the United States, a national bank is an ordinary private bank operating within the federal government's regulatory structure, which usually but not always operates in multiple U.S. states, and is under the supervision of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Depending on the matter, it also may have to comply with some U.S. state regulations. It is legally required to be a member of the Federal Reserve System. A national bank in the U.S. is distinguished from a state bank, whose permit or charter is granted by one of the U.S. states, and can only do business in that state.