Can You Be Charged With Money Laundering for Helping a Friend Transfer Money

[lawfacts]

A U.S. businessman, originally from China but now a U.S. citizen, has been asked by a friend to receive large sums of money from mainland China and then to transfer those funds to a bank in Hong Kong. He would not be paid, but he would be the named owner of the Chinese bank account. The amounts would be about $200K - $250K, over five installments. The goal is supposedly to avoid Chinese regulations relating to the maximum amount of U.S. funds that may be held by a Chinese citizen.

[Mr. Knowitall]

The entire plan sounds to me like a scam. If it is possible to transfer the funds out of China, it is possible to transfer them directly to a bank in Hong Kong. I would be wary first and foremost that there is a scam that will result in the businessman transferring his own money to Hong Kong and then discovering that some or all of the transfers of funds to him were fraudulent and that the Hong Kong account has been drained of money.

I would expect that the transactions would result in a government investigation, and I am certainly not comfortable declaring that the person will be in the clear following the investigation. The person should discuss this plan in detail with a lawyer who handles international business finance involving China, as well as his accountant.