Separating proceeds of criminal activity from their source through the use of layers of financial transactions (multiple transfers of funds among financial institutions, early surrender of an annuity without regard to penalties, cash collateralized loans, LCs with false invoices/bills of lading, etc.) to disguise the origin of the funds, disrupt any audit trail, and provide anonymity. Launderers want to move funds around, changing both form of the funds and their location in order to make it more complicated for law enforcement authorities to trace “dirty” money;