Odes to Joy

Odes on Tender Specie(s) Vol III: Bad Faith · Track 16 · middle

Money Laundering

Three-stage process: placement, layering, integration. Cash businesses, shell companies, real estate. The legal-academic phrase 'beneficial ownership.' Bo plays it as a slick mid-tempo Atlanta strut, knowing wink.

Lyrics

So you got a little problem.
A duffel bag situation.
Smells like... opportunity.
Let Bo walk you through the process.
It’s a simple thing.

First step’s called Placement.
You take that heavy, guilty cash... and you give it a home.
That all-night laundromat on Memorial Drive?
It cleans more than just clothes, baby.
The nail salon on Peachtree, the car wash in Bankhead...
Every dollar gets a receipt.
You just gotta chop it up, feed it slow.
Make it look like Tuesday.

It's just three little words, a three-step dance.
Placement. Layering. Integration.
You take that bad romance and give it a second chance.
It's the spin cycle for your situation.
Wash it clean.

Next up: Layering.
This is where the magic happens.
You make that money move so fast, nobody can follow the blur.
A wire transfer two-step to the Caymans.
A shell company that only exists on paper in a dusty office in Panama.
It’s buying and selling nothing to nobody.
A ghost in the machine, moving numbers on a screen.

It's just three little words, a three-step dance.
Placement. Layering. Integration.
You take that bad romance and give it a second chance.
It's the spin cycle for your situation.
Wash it clean.

And if some suit in a cheap tie asks you 'bout...
'Beneficial Ownership'...
You just give 'em a slow smile.
You ask 'em who owns the pen in his pocket.
Who owns the air he’s breathing?
Ownership is a state of mind.

Last stop: Integration.
The homecoming.
The money comes back, respectable. Tanned.
It buys a glass condo overlooking Buckhead.
Puts a little Basquiat on the wall.
Invests in a tech startup run by some kid from Georgia Tech.
It’s clean now. Smells like money again.
Shakes hands with the mayor.

Placement.
Layering.
Integration.
See?
Just business.
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