'MY SON IN MIAMI MAKES THE MONEY DISAPPEAR"

This statement, made by a Federal prosecutor at an ongoing money laundering and conspiracy trial of a former senior Ecuadorian government official accused of taking ten million in bribes and kickbacks, in the first American Odebrecht case, says it all about the systemic problems South Florida faces from laundrymen who clean dirty money through the area's banks and real estate agencies. Other American cities have similar problems, although not to the extent that we see it here.

Part of the problem, the facilitation of money laundering through real estate investments, it is hoped will be minimized by a recent court settlement that has resulted in a sea change in the way that real estate agents receive what many claim to be clearly excessive commissions, under circumstances that encourage ambitious agents to exercise "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" regarding dodgy or suspicious clients, due to the lucrative fees paid at closing.

While most American are focused upon the removal of the six per cent commission rate, that fact that agents on both sides have benefitted from high commissions. which encourage them to ignore any Source of Funds or Source of Wealth questions, even when they are staring them in the face. America's powerful real estate lobby, having now been taken down a peg in the multi-million dollar settlement, should now start advising their agents to being looking under the mattress when dealing with affluent clients, especially now that AML will eventually become a part of the real estate sales world.