Blanchir de l’argent
“Blanchir de l’argent” is a French expression meaning “to launder money.” Literally it means to whiten or to whitewash money, but in English you would say to launder. Just like the English expression, “blanchir de l’argent” means to give illegally gained money a valid, legal existence by hiding its criminal origins. This is done in a variety of ways such as investing illegal money in legal businesses or by staking some of it at the gambling tables and passing off winnings as legally obtained money.
“Blanchir” means to whiten, as in treatments for whitening teeth, or to whitewash, as in whitewashing a wall, or to blanch, as in precooking foods in boiling water, or to go pale, as in pale with fright.
