"Money laundering", menurut Jeffrey Robinson dalam tulisannya yang berjudul The Laundryman, "is all about sleight of hand. it is a magic for wealth creation. it is,perhaps, the closest anyone has ever come to alchemy."
Berkenaan dengan sejarah istilah money laundering. Jeffrey Robinson mengemukakan sebagai berikut:
The lifeblood of drug dealers, fraudsters, smugglers, kidnappers, armsdealers, terrorist, exortionists and tax evaders, myth has it that the term was coined by Al Capone, who, like his arch rival George 'Bugs' Moran, used a string of coin-operated Laundromats scatted around Chicago to disguise his revenue from gambling, prostitution, racketeering, and violation of the Prohibition laws.
Tetapi menurut Jeffrey Robinson uraian tersebut di atas hanyalah isapan jempol belaka. Dikemukakan olehnya: "It is a neat story-but not true".
Mengapa cerita itu tidak benar, karena, masih menurut Jeffrey Robinson dalam tulisannya yang sama:
Money Laundering is called what it is because that perfectly describes what takes places-illegal, or dirty, money is put throught a cycle of transactions, or washed, so that it come out the other end as legal, or clean, money. In other words, the source of illegally obtained funds is obscured throught a succcesion of transfers and deals in order that those same funds can eventually be made to reappear as legitimate income.
"Money laundering" sebagai sebutan sebenarnya belum lama dipakai. Penggunaan pertama kali di surat kabar adalah berkaitan dengan pemberitaan mengenai skandal Watergate di Amerika Serikat pada tahun 1973. Sedangkan penggunaan sebutan tersebut dalam konteks pengadilan atau hukum muncul untuk pertama kalinya tahun 1982 dalam perkara US v $4.255.625,39 (1982) 551 F Supp. 314. Sejak itu, istilah tersebut telah diterima dan digunakan secara luas di seluruh dunia.
