Money Laundering

In Vendetta "clean" income comes from only two main sources - either the real income of a legitimate business, which tends to be fairly low, or illegal money put through the accounts of a legitimate business and thereby "cleaned". Tax is paid on illegal monies laundered in this manner just as it is on real legitimate income, to strengthen the deception and make it less likely to be uncovered during any investigation.

Characters owning large legitimate businesses can operate a "money laundering" scheme for fellow gang members, accepting a large wad of illegal money in return for a somewhat smaller amount transferred to that member's Bank Account from the Bank Account of the legitimate business owner. Naturally there is a limit to how much illegal money can be "cleaned" in this manner each week, depending on the size & profitability of the legitimate business. The largest legitimate businesses owned by your organization will probably be in the hands of "Civilian" members such as your Accountants, Lawyers and Political Lobbyists. These Characters cannot operate actual illegal rackets, but they would have no objection to lending assistance to operating a money laundering scheme for fellow gang members. As a general rule, these Civilian Characters would also be better at laundering than most other gang members, with the Accountants being especially skilful.

Laundering large sums of illegal money for a fellow gang member earns the laundering Character a fee of 20% of the total, plus the cost in taxes & bank charges amounting to another 10%. The remaining 70% is the amount transferred back to the owning Character's Bank Account as "clean" money. For the transaction to take place, the laundering Character must have enough in his own legal Bank Account to immediately cover 70% of the amount of illegal money he is given to be cleaned. It doesn't matter how long it will take to launder the illegal money as he will simply launder the maximum each week, with money moving from his illegal "Business Account" to his legal "Bank Account" each week based on the number & size of legal businesses owned.

Transferring money to a fellow gang member for the purpose of "laundering" is not a time-consuming task so it does not come under the header of normal "Orders". The options to make use of this feature may instead be found on each Character's in-game 'Accounts' screen. Transfers take immediate effect when ordered (provided that the receiving Character has enough legal funds to cover 70% of it), as is the return transfer of 'clean' money into the Character's Bank Account.

Transfers for this low-level style of money laundering may take place only between two Characters of the same personal Organization (ie. within your own gang). Later options in the game will allow laundering activity between any two Characters not of the same organization, if one of them has the right connections. In essence, large scale Money Laundering is also an illegal Racket in the game, and will later be available to some Characters.

That said, there is nothing to prevent one Boss transferring illegal cash to another Boss (one who personally owns large legitimate businesses, for instance) and receiving a 'Bank Account' transfer of 'clean' cash in return - if sufficient trust exists between them, such as within the same Syndicate or family, perhaps. The fees for such a service are negotiable, but 30% would be a fair recommendation for such transactions, as within one's own gang. This 'Boss-only Laundering' system allows for a viable form of income for those Bosses able to acquire large legitimate businesses for themselves.