Strategic Analysis on Professional Money Laundering (PML) and Foreign Proceeds of Crimes

Professional Money Laundering (PML) is known as the facilitating of money laundering services on behalf of criminals or criminal groups for a fee. PML is offered/conducted by professionals (Professional Money Launders ‘PMLs’) either as individuals or in a form of a group or a network and usually engages in sophisticated money laundering schemes to enable criminals to evade Anti-Money laundering and counter terrorist financing measures. PML Clients generally are not distinguished between drug dealers, fraudsters, human traffickers, or any other criminal with a need to move or conceal unlawful gains. PMLs usually operate on a large scale that could also be a subset of Third-Party Launderers.

The UAEFIU has identified some common techniques of PML linked with specific high-risk sectors, professions, or activities, for example, Trade Based Money Laundering (TBML), Money Services Business (MSBs), Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs), the abuse of Legal Entities, and Virtual Currencies. This report describes the main PML trends and techniques and exemplifies some relevant PML schemes.

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