The General Accounting Office has just released a new report on the extent of money laundering through credit cards. The report is directed to the Chairman, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate. The link is to actual report.

The report concludes,

"The extent to which money laundering through credit cards may be occurring is unknown. Bank regulators, credit card industry representatives, and law enforcement officials we interviewed generally agreed that credit card accounts were not likely to be used in the initial stage of money laundering when illicit cash is first placed into the financial system, because the industry generally restricts cash payments. Bank regulators and credit card industry representatives we interviewed acknowledged that credit card accounts might be used in the layering or integration stages of money laundering."

"....Most law enforcement officials we met with were unable to cite any specific cases of credit card–facilitated money laundering in U.S.–based financial institutions. Further, a FinCEN analysis of its database of SARs filed by U.S.-based financial institutions revealed very little evidence of potential money laundering through credit cards."

"....Industry representatives generally reported that they did not have AML policies and programs focused on credit cards because they considered money laundering using credit cards to be unlikely."

"....We make no recommendations in this report."

Anyone want to speculate on how much this report cost us? We'd be interested to know.