[Ads-l] Antedating of Launder (Money)

[Baker, John]

Thanks, Garson, those are some nice finds.  I felt sure that there must be more than just one pre-Watergate example.  Here is another, from the Boston Globe, June 29, 1969, at 1, col. 2 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers):

<<A conservative estimate of the total annual amount wagered illegally in the United States is $20 billion, of which $6 to $7 billion is profit for organized crime.  The Massachusetts handle is an estimated $2 billion.

Most of this money is then funneled to the loanshark business.  The small sharks pay minimal interest—maybe 2 percent per $1000—and loan the money to the public for whatever the market will bear—5, 10 or 20 percent a week.  You hear stories about people who borrow $8000, pay back $12,000 in a year and still owe $8000.

The profits then are channeled into legal businesses.  This is known as “laundering” the money.>>


I also note that, in my prior email, my second quote was the wrong one and did not include “money laundering,” notwithstanding my statement that it was an antedating of the term.  My apologies.  Here is an actual antedating, from the New York Times, Apr. 10, 1973, at 43, col. 5 – 6 (TimesMachine):

<<Whether the satchel full of cash, the Mexican moneylaundering [sic] operation, the Arab bazaar in ambassadorships—whether these seem to be symptoms of a new low in political rot or merely low comedy in slightly bad taste will depend on the observer’s political bias.>>


John Baker


From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of ADSGarson O'Toole
Sent: Thursday, September 7, 2023 2:01 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Antedating of Launder (Money)

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Intriguing topic, John. Here are some slightly earlier matches for the
pertinent sense of "launder".

Date: December 13, 1969
Newspaper: The Evening Press
Newspaper Location: Binghamton, New York
Article: Accounts Anonymous
Quote Page 6, Column 1
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
Organized crime uses the Swiss banks to "launder" money taken in from
the rackets and rechannel it into more legitimate enterprises, or for
cash to continue the financing of smuggling, narcotics or whatever.
[End excerpt]

In February 1970 "The Boston Globe" published a piece about Swiss bank
accounts which contained an instance of "launder".

Date: February 13, 1970
Newspaper: The Boston Globe
Newspaper Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Article: Swiss bank 'myth' is true
Author: Donald White
Quote Page 16, Column 1
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
"At times they have been the means for American businessmen to
speculate in gold (such speculation is not allowed in the United
States), they are used to launder "dirty" money.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Wed, Sep 6, 2023 at 4:35 PM Baker, John
<000014a9c79c3f97-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu<mailto:000014a9c79c3f97-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu>> wrote:
>
> The verb "launder" (OED v. 1.b.), meaning to transfer funds of dubious or illegal origin, and then later to recover them from what seem to be "clean" (i.e., legitimate) sources, is thought to have originated with the Watergate scandal; the earliest example in the OED is from April 1973. However, the term predates Watergate (although it was rarely used before then). Here is an example from a newspaper article with anticrime suggestions. The Arizona Republic, Oct. 20, 1970, at 16, col. 3 (NewspaperArchive):
>
> <<4. Put an end to the current practice of hiding land holdings, in numbered trust accounts.
>
> Law enforcement officials say much illegal money is "laundered" through land purchases which are run through numbered trust accounts. Under present law, they cannot determine the actual parties holding the trust accounts. A bill to allow them to get this information, for a state purpose, failed in the legislature two years ago.
>
> It should be revised and passed.>>
>
>
> The OED also has its first example of the related term "money laundering" from July 1974. Here is an earlier (but Watergate-related) example from The Washington Post, Sept. 25, 1972, at A20, col. 2 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers):
>
> <<Who were the contributors to the $10 million secret fund and what were they promised? What do the reports to Mr. Mitchell and the report to Mr. Dean really say? What is Mr. Stans' "logical explanation" of the hundreds of thousands of dollars of money laundered in a bank in Mexico? Were the secret fund books destroyed? And if so, who destroyed them?>>
>
>
> John Baker
>
>
>
>
>
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