Professor Fact Checks Money Laundering Scenes, from 'Ozark' to 'Narcos' | Vanity Fair

“I teach money laundering, and this is my MasterClass.”

It's interesting that Hollywood is so good at creating money laundering scenes. Especially when they are so bad at portraying almost every other activity.

Jessie "I'm a drug dealer?" Saul "Ehh!, hundred times worse. You're a tax evader" hahaaaa

Her smirk the whole time. She knows things, she can’t share but really wants to.

Nice money laundering tips. Now the only thing I need, is to learn how to earn illegal pile of money in first place.

I love when she mentions neighbor businesses that don’t appear to make money but stay open year after year. I’ve always wondered if those businesses and whether they are fronts. It’s a total possibility.

In the 90's, we have this eye glasses chain store in Taiwan that was used as a front company by local mobs (which was somehow common knowledge). However, the glasses business is extremely lucrative as production costs are low, yet sell prices can be very high (which is why it was used for money laundering). The chain stores were earning more legitimate income than the mob was making that the mobs retired their illegal activities.

This woman has the most visually interesting office I've ever seen. That dope 3 dimensional art and circles on the cabinets are amazing.

What's up with using a potato for the second camera?

This just makes me think of all the money laundering that goes on in the modern art business. There was literally a blank white painting that sold for $15 million.

She was my professor in college, and she is the GOAT. 100% the real deal. We actually learned about a lot of these scenes in class.

I lived in SF in the 90s. There was an old guy that had a small mom-and-pop store that had no customers. It was between Chinatown and Nob Hill, so near downtown and in the heart of the city. They actually kept the lights off to make it look dodgy and not enticing for foot-traffic. There were spider webs on the shelves and few perishable items. The old guy just sat and read the paper all day. SF has some of the highest rents in the world, so there was no way it was a viable business. It was so obviously a money laundering outfit.

I like how passionate she discusses about money laundering, and she likes how Saul Goodman outwits the Feds.

21:53 - Yep. I remember when a small pizza joint opened in front of my house. We tried it out once, but it was the worst pizza we've ever had. They never had any customers inside, but they lasted for months in what is a very expensive neighbourhood to own a business. Months later, the police came and sealed off the whole street. They went in and they started brining out enough slot machines to fill a small casino in Vegas. The pizza joint was just a front for an underground casino, which are illegal in my country.

The Professor has mastered that stare that good teachers do to make you feel guilty and confess, even though you haven't done anything wrong lol

Having too much money is such a relatable problem I will never have

The way she validated ozark made me so happy 🤣

Every time they cut to the pixelated camera, the bank files a suspicious activity report to the Treasury office.

“There may be businesses in your neighborhood that don’t seem to do any business but stay open” Oh you mean the three mattress stores in the same strip mall?

I love how she basically admits in this that shell companies are basically fronts but done through a legal loophole. It never ceases to be ironic that the world's ultra Rich can do things legally that most of the world has to do illegally.