Chapter I outlines the various stages of money laundering, warns against using the term in a loose or promiscuous manner, and identifies various kinds of secrecy that facilitate money laundering and other crimes. Chapter II considers the legitimate as well as the criminal uses of offshore financial and bank secrecy jurisdictions and explains how bank secrecy and offshore banking evolved. It locates offshore banking and bank secrecy jurisdictions within the global financial system, suggesting that the system is a highly congenial one for both licit entrepreneurs and for those trying to launder and hide the proceeds of crime, as well as for those who typically exploit loopholes and variations in tax and other laws. Chapter III discusses the way in which offshore financial centers and bank secrecy jurisdictions are used by criminals. It highlights not only the way in which money is often moved to and through offshore banks or bank secrecy jurisdictions as part of money-laundering efforts, but also other ways in which offshore jurisdictions are used by criminals. Chapter IV looks at offshore banking and bank secrecy as inhibitors and facilitators for law enforcement investigations, with attention to both de jure and defacto limits to cooperation. Chapter V delineates the considerations that must be taken into account in devising policy options to combat money laundering and other financial crimes perpetrated through off-shore financial centers and bank secrecy jurisdictions. 5 figures and a map of major financial havens