Integration

By this point the criminal money has already been placed in the financial system and layered through transfers to cloud its origin. Integration brings it back to the owner in a form that looks lawful. Typical routes are buying real estate, vehicles, art or jewellery, investing in a company, repaying a loan that was never real, or claiming profits from a front business. The funds can then be spent or reinvested openly. Because the money now sits in ordinary-looking assets and accounts, it is often the hardest stage to detect, and investigators often catch cases earlier or later in the chain. Signs include sudden wealth that does not match known income, property bought in the names of relatives or companies, and large early loan repayments. Banks and professionals such as estate agents and notaries are asked to check where funds come from. Detection here rests on questions about wealth that outstrips known income, which is why estate agents and notaries are asked to check where purchase money came from.

A man with no declared income buys a flat through an offshore company. He later sells it to a local firm owned by his brother, and the sale price is paid into the brother's bank account as an ordinary property deal. The bank queries the earlier ownership and the offshore link, and reports the funds as suspicious.