considered crimes that give rise to money laundering.

Here's a discussion of the subject I found online.

"Predicate offense" is the term used in the literature on anti-money laundering to refer to the unlawful activity that gives rise to the money being laundered. Assume that the money being deposited was in reality the ransom paid for the release of kidnapped hostages. Seeking to disguise the true nature of the ransom is the money laundering and kidnapping for ransom is the predicate offense.

Initially, illegal drug related crimes constituted the major bulk of predicate offenses. Over the years, however, the trend was to include a myriad of other crimes and punishable offenses as crime syndicates, like legitimate businessmen, found virtue in diversification. In the United States, for instance, dozens of federal crimes are listed in its money laundering statutes and it is on account of this great number that money laundering laws have become powerful tools for attacking organized crime in that country.

Money laundering predicate offenses range from swindling to smuggling, from robbery and extortion to plunder and practices in violation of the Securities Regulation Code of 2000.





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Note added at 2002-07-14 05:01:28 (GMT)
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\"For purposes of this report, a predicate offense is an
offense under your state anti-money laundering statute, such as narcotics trafficking, fraud, etc., which produced the criminal proceeds leading to a money laundering charge.\"