Costa Rica's highly advanced financial system and the limited number of safeguards in the banking sector have made it an attractive location for money-laundering activities. Money laundering methods in Costa Rica include bulk cash smuggling by couriers; the use of numerous bank deposits under the U.S. $10,000 cash-transactions reporting threshold; real estate purchases; the representation of laundered funds as casino winnings; and investments in construction projects, hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, and product assembly plants. Efforts of the Costa Rican law enforcement agencies to conduct effective investigations and prosecutions of money laundering cases is severely limited by the lack of adequate funding and personnel to manage complex, international cases, as well as by a lack of international cooperation. One recent effort to prevent money laundering was the establishment of the Central American Banking Academy on April 4, 2002, for the purpose of training private-sector personnel in the prevention of money laundering and other financial crimes. This academy was established by the Costa Rican Chamber of Banks and Financial Institutions. This paper outlines a chronology of Costa Rican legislation pertinent to money laundering. Laws have changed in order to more effectively combat the concealment and laundering of illicit funds through Costa Rica's financial sectors. Changes must be made to banking regulations in order to ensure compliance with existing anti-money laundering law. In addition, the anti-money laundering legislation that is now in place should be strengthened with the addition of a conspiracy law.