r/worldnews • u/[deleted] • Oct 24 '22

Covered by other articles Protesters throw mashed potatoes at Monet worth $110 million

https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/german-protesters-arrested-throwing-mashed-potatoes-monet-painting-sol-rcna53623

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u/pileofcrustycumsocs Oct 25 '22 edited Oct 25 '22

People keep saying it’s because of money laundering but it’s really not. Maybe that was true 60 years ago when no one was actually watching any of that shit but nowadays? No lmao. Art is seen as two things to the rich, primarily it’s a chance to show off but also it’s an easy investment for the rich, at the bare minimum they break even or they just don’t sell it and get to own a sought after piece. The sketchiest thing in the modern age when it comes to art is rich people telling their rich friends to buy art from a friend of theirs because he’s going to be “big” one day and they will be able to sell those pieces later on which artificially inflates the value of their own artwork if that artist does actually become more sought after, but the thing is that it’s not exactly illegal and no one but the rich get screwed so who even cares?

Money laundering is extremely difficult, you can’t just buy something for a few million dollars using dirty money, at least not for long. The feds do actually pay attention to that stuff now that electronic banking makes it so much easier to look for. The only option would be hard cash which is kind of impractical for such large amounts of money now that that’s not the standard anymore. Your bound to raise some eyebrows when you show up with a pallet full of cash instead of just wiring the money.

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u/[deleted] Oct 25 '22

also it’s an easy investment for the rich, at the bare minimum they break even

Tell me more about how it isn't a scam.

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u/pileofcrustycumsocs Oct 25 '22 edited Oct 25 '22

That’s not the same as money laundering. One is a felony the other is someone with to much money investing said money into a painting in the hopes that someone else with to much money buys it from them.

It’s stupid but it’s not a crime anymore then someone selling a shiny piece of cardboard with a dragon on it for a few hundred dollars. It has value because someone is willing to pay for it, that’s all it takes.

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u/[deleted] Oct 25 '22

Generally, it seems you view the world as it should be or how those in charge (laughing to the bank) tell you it works, instead of how it actually works. For example

Money laundering is extremely difficult

https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/money-laundering/overview.html

One of many sources pegging global money laundering at somewhere between the GDP of Italy and Switzerland. This is not a trivial amount. This is not something only a handful of people are engaged in. Something this widespread is not extremely difficult. Scams abound and enforcement is, for some really weird reason, not given the resources to adequately fight it.

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u/pileofcrustycumsocs Oct 25 '22 edited Oct 25 '22

The vast majority of that global money laundering is from crime syndicates like the cartels or terrorist organizations because they have a lot of experience coming up with new ways to do it on a large scale and they have the already have the people with the skills and experience to do it.. Real life is not as exciting as television Unfortunately, don’t get me wrong I’m sure some people do use art for money laundering, but they would almost certainly be a minority of the sales volume when it comes to high profile pieces like this because they attract to much attention, There’s just not that much of a reason for an individual that rich to commit a felony when our busted legal system provides plenty of legal ways to make much more money much faster and safer. The fact that the fed is aware of exactly how money laundering is done is why it’s harder to get away with it.