Penal Law § 470.05

Money laundering in the fourth degree · as in force on May 31, 2026

§ 470.05 Money laundering in the fourth degree.

A person is guilty of money laundering in the fourth degree when:

1. Knowing that the property involved in one or more financial transactions represents the proceeds of criminal conduct:

(a) he or she conducts one or more such financial transactions which in fact involve the proceeds of specified criminal conduct:

(i) With intent to:

(A) promote the carrying on of criminal conduct; or

(B) engage in conduct constituting a felony as set forth in section eighteen hundred three, eighteen hundred four, eighteen hundred five, or eighteen hundred six of the tax law; or

(ii) Knowing that the transaction or transactions in whole or in part are designed to:

(A) conceal or disguise the nature, the location, the source, the ownership or the control of the proceeds of criminal conduct; or

(B) avoid any transaction reporting requirement imposed by law; and

(b) The total value of the property involved in such financial transaction or transactions exceeds five thousand dollars; or

2. Knowing that one or more monetary instruments represents the proceeds of criminal conduct:

(a) he or she transports, transmits, or transfers on one or more occasions, monetary instruments which in fact represent the proceeds of specified criminal conduct:

(i) With intent to promote the carrying on of criminal conduct; or

(ii) Knowing that such transportation, transmittal, or transfer is designed in whole or in part to:

(A) conceal or disguise the nature, the location, the source, the ownership, or the control of the proceeds of criminal conduct; or

(B) avoid any transaction reporting requirement imposed by law; and

(b) The total value of such monetary instrument or instruments exceeds ten thousand dollars; or

3. He or she conducts one or more financial transactions:

(a) involving property represented to be the proceeds of specified criminal conduct, or represented to be property used to conduct or facilitate specified criminal conduct, with intent to:

(i) promote the carrying on of specified criminal conduct; or

(ii) conceal or disguise the nature, the location, the source, the ownership or the control of property believed to be the proceeds of specified criminal conduct; or

(iii) avoid any transaction reporting requirement imposed by law; and

(b) the total value of the property involved in such financial transaction or transactions exceeds ten thousand dollars.

Money laundering in the fourth degree is a class E felony.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PEN/470.05

In plain English

A person commits fourth-degree money laundering by knowingly dealing with criminal proceeds in any of these ways:

(1) Conducting transactions involving more than $5,000 in actual specified-crime proceeds to promote crime, commit a named tax felony, conceal the proceeds, or avoid reporting. ★
(2) Transporting, transmitting, or transferring more than $10,000 in actual specified-crime proceeds to promote crime, conceal the proceeds, or avoid reporting.
(3) Conducting transactions involving more than $10,000 in property represented as specified-crime proceeds or facilitating property, intending to promote the crime, conceal the property, or avoid reporting.

The offense is a class E felony. ★

Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.

In print

This provision appears in Volume 4 — The Court Clerk: Penal Law; Volume 1 — The Court Officer in Plain English; Volume 3 — The Court Officer: Penal Law; Volume 3 — Your Career: Penal Law in Plain English.