Factors influencing the choice of technique to launder funds: The APPT framework

This paper proposes a new framework to provide insights into the techniques launderers adopt to clean illicit funds, drawing on existing literature and theories including rational choice, public value, structural coupling, and stakeholder. The proposed APPT framework is named after four factors that explain the choice of techniques: the Actors involved, Predicate crime, the Purpose of laundering, and Technological innovations. While the current literature on money laundering primarily directs attention toward aspects such as regulatory frameworks, the stages of money laundering, and ways of detecting it, there is a lack of understanding about the reasons underlying a launderer’s choice of techniques. This paper endeavors to reduce this gap in the literature and contribute to understanding the motivation of money launderers for the benefit of investigations. The framework offers new insights for the money laundering literature and has implications for neophytes, practitioners, and institutions teaching financial crime.