A SENTENCE OF HOUSE ARREST FOR MONEY LAUNDERING WILL NOT DETER OTHERS

A case out of Ottawa reminds us that, so long as the courts only mete out a small slap on the wrist for money laundering offenses, individuals will never be sufficiently deterred from committing that crime. Only when prison time is the central component of the sentence is there any serious deterrent to discourage individuals from contemplating laundering actions.
 
A dentist, Kin Tung Fong, has pled guilty to tax fraud, and laundering the proceeds of crime. He received a conditional sentence of two years, including one year of house arrest. A conditional sentence does not involve incarceration. Fong participated in a tax evasion scheme, whereby he intentionally evaded Federal taxes exceeding five hundred thousand Canadian Dollars. He also illegally collected substantial tax credits.

So long as the courts fail to sentence money launderers to lengthy prison terms, others will be tempted to move the proceeds of crime through the global banking system.