The article reports on an empirical criminological study of new German anti-money-laundering legislation. International directives were transposed into German law by penalizing money-laundering acts through the new criminal offense of money-laundering (1992) and a separate law providing various regulations for the detection of proceeds deriving from certain crimes (1993). The study included oral interviews with 16 public prosecutors who deal with investigations of money-laundering cases. The study analyzed 380 investigation files which had been dealt with by the public prosecutors during the first 6 months after the new Money-Laundering Act came into force. Sixty-six public prosecutors' offices in eight specific Federal States completed written interviews. In the final part of the study, 75 credit institutions completed a written questionnaire about their first experience of the practical application of the Money-Laundering Act. Notes, tables