Wikipedia has a useful introduction to Money Laundering

"Money laundering is the process of concealing sources of money. 
Money evidently gained through crime is "dirty" money, and money that has been "laundered" to appear as if it came from a legitimate source 
is "clean" money. 

Money can be laundered by many methods, which vary in complexity and sophistication.

Wikipedia provides this commentary for the diagram that appears in the top rightg-hand corner of this page -
Placing "dirty" money in a service company, where it is layered with legitimate income, and then integrated into the flow of money is a 
common form of money laundering


Criminalizing money laundering

The elements of the crime of money laundering are set forth in the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and 
Psychotropic Substances and Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. It is defined as knowingly engaging in a financial transaction 
with the proceeds of a crime for the purpose of concealing or disguising the illicit origin of the property from governments."

From this brief description we can identify the 'Things of Interest' as includng :-

1. Financial Transactions
2. Individuals
3. Organisations


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