This bit on money used illegally reminded me on the formation of HSBC founded on Opium trade. China lost HK for almost a century because it refused to trade opium, so British attacked them to what is now known as the Opium Wars. The context is from the book ‘Drugs as weapons against us, CIA’s murderous targeting of SDS, Panthers, Hendrix, Lennon, Cobain, Tupac, and other activists’ by John L Potash.

Financial scrubbing can also be done through art, real estate, investments etc asides drugs. An estimated 2% to 5% of money laundering contributes to global GDP. That’s $2 Trillion - $5 Trillion US dollars based on global GDP in 2022.