Reputed San Francisco Chinatown gangster Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow and his associates were making money in illegal ways and needed to hide it from federal authorities, so they funneled it into fake business accounts, according to the FBI – the classic definition of money laundering.

Money-laundering charges are at the center of the criminal case filed by federal prosecutors last month against Chow, 54, and 28 other defendants, including now-suspended state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, and his fundraiser, former San Francisco school board President Keith Jackson.

In some cases, money laundering is easier to prove than the underlying crime that gives rise to it, said Beth Simmons, a professor of international affairs at Harvard University. “Money laundering might be sort of another angle to try to get at the consequences of illegal activity,” she said.

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