If you are charged with a drug crime, frequently those drugs result in the government’s allegations that money was obtained from the illegal drug transactions. If you are charged with a fraud crime, the government will allege that the fraud created a certain financial windfall for you to which you were not entitled. Either way, the money that you received from any illegal activity is subject to not only forfeiture but can be identified as money laundering in that you received the money from an illegal activity and used that money for other purposes in order to hide the source of the money.

Money laundering carries separate offense classifications as well as penalties under the sentencing guidelines.