In order to launder large amounts of money, (drug) criminals can seek help from financial facilitators. According to the FATF, these facilitators are operating increasingly business-like and even participate in professional money laundering networks. This study examines the extent to which financial facilitators in the Netherlands exhibit business-like characteristics and the extent to which they organize themselves in money laundering networks. We further examine the relationship between business-like behavior and individual money launderers’ position in the social network. Using police intelligence data, we were able to analyze the contacts of 198 financial facilitators who were active in the Netherlands in the period 2016–2020, all having worked for drug criminals. Based on social network analysis, this research shows that financial facilitators in the Netherlands can be linked in extensive money laundering networks. Based on the facilitators’ area of expertise, roughly two main types of professional money laundering networks can be discerned. Some subnetworks operate in the real estate sector, while others primarily engage in underground banking. Furthermore, the application of regression models to predict business-like behavior using individual network measures shows that facilitators with more central positions in the network and those who collaborate with financial facilitators from varying expertise groups tend to behave more business-like than other financial facilitators.

For many years, money laundering and terrorist financing have undoubtedly been causing headaches throughout the European Union (EU). These illicit activities pose a significant threat to the integrity of the EU economy and financial system and the security of its citizens. There has been a strong and ever-growing demand at both a European and national level for harmonised and effective measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.