Talk:W Spann

Laundered money?

Is "laundered money" the right phrase? If we don't know the source of the money how can we say it is laundered (which has a illegal connotations). There can be other reasons to hide the source. --Noah (talk) 20:50, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

Agreed - laundered is definitely the incorrect phrase here, especially without a citation.38.105.200.252 (talk) 23:26, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

If this was done to avoid taxes or regulations then it would indeed be laundering; other motives for this subterfuge are not apparent, so "possible laundering activity" would be accurate based on what we know at this point. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.134.85.29 (talk) 06:40, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

That would be speculation and (potentially) biased. I'd say either leave it off or indicated it is source unknown. --Noah (talk) 16:04, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

"Money laundering, at its simplest, is the act of making money that comes from Source A look like it comes from Source B."[1] So yes, this is money laundering. -- Kendrick7^talk 19:52, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

From the Wiki-definition - yes I saw that. But looking online for other definitions (here for example) it is only defined for when it is used to make illegal gains appear legal. Same for a Texas state definition on another site. --Noah (talk) 16:43, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

At this point I only support the tangential categorization, as I think categories should tend towards inclusion. -- Kendrick7^talk 03:27, 9 August 2011 (UTC)

General article

Would it be possible to revise the article so that it covers the general phenomenon of creating phantom companies to launder money (especially to political candidates?)

There are currently at least three such incidents - the one in this article, and two as described here: [2] 68.42.243.198 (talk) 00:47, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

I believe Eli Publishing and F8 LLC are covered in more detail in the article Restore Our Future. Also, the papers of incorporation listed the people (Steve Lund and Jeremy Blickenstaff respectively) behind them, so it's not quite as suspicious. A new more general article can wait until other PACs or candidates start using such techniques. -- Kendrick7^talk 17:47, 6 August 2011 (UTC)