Criminal Money Laundering Legislation in the 109th Congress

Money laundering is an auxiliary federal crime, established to accentuate the seriousness of other specific federal, state, and foreign crimes (predicate offenses). It is designed to cut off the flow of money and other resources to and from those predicate offenses. Each of the racketeer influenced and corrupt organization (RICO) predicate
offenses, including any of the federal crimes of terrorism, is automatically included on the money laundering predicate offense list. Money launderers face lengthy prison terms, heavy fines, and the confiscation of property associated with the laundering offense.
This is an identification of bills in the 109th Congress that amend the money laundering provisions of 18 U.S.C. 1956, 1957, or use those offenses as the predicates for other federal crimes, or add new offenses to the money laundering predicate offense list either directly or indirectly.
Principal among these is P.L. 109-177 (H.R. 3199), the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act.
Related reports include CRS Report RL33315, Money Laundering: An Overview of 18 U.S.C. 1956 and Related Federal Criminal Law (available in a shorter, abridged version as CRS Report RS22401, Money Laundering: An Abridged Overview of 18 U.S.C. 1956 and Related Federal Criminal Law, both by Charles Doyle.
P.L. 109-177 (H.R. 3199): The USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005, P.L. 109-177, contains several money laundering amendments. Some add to the money laundering predicate offense list, either directly or as a consequence of being added to the RICO predicate offense list or to the definition of federal crimes of terrorism
and thus to the RICO predicate offense list.
For RICO, Money Laundering, Federal Crimes, and Relevant Patriot Act Provisions Click Here