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ATMs offer easy tool for cleaning dirty cash, officials say

September 23, 2007

The Wall Street Journal: On March 15, 2006, Luis Saavedra and Carlos Roca began going from bank to bank in Queens, N.Y., depositing cash into accounts held by a network of other people, never allowing their deposits to exceed $2,000. Most deposits ranged from $500 to $1,500. By the afternoon, the two had placed more than $111,000 into 112 different accounts, officials say. Confederates in Colombia then used ATM cards to withdraw the money in pesos, moving quickly from ATM to ATM in a withdrawal whirlwind.