[norenh]

I would argue that it is illegal because it hides criminal activity and is a mean to gain from crime even if caught. When laundering money you are trying to hide that the gains are from illegal activity. Normally if you gain something from illegal activity, the justice system could confiscate it and no gains would be made. But if you are allowed to launder the money, we would basically say that it is OK to gain from illegal activity as long as you hide it or that it is OK to help people to gain resources from criminal activity.