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Frame from Saul Teaches Jesse Money Laundering | Kafkaesque | Breaking Bad Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

Saul Teaches Jesse Money Laundering | Kafkaesque | Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad & Beyond
Other
YouTube
1 HN user recommended this video1 month2022–2024 score 1
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN uses it as a quick, memorable illustration of how money laundering works in discussions of crypto seizures and mixers.

A short clip from Breaking Bad in which Saul Goodman teaches Jesse Pinkman how a cash-heavy business like a nail salon can launder drug money.

“Here is a short educational video on the topic of money laundering” (HN, 2024)

1 recommendations · 3 citations · Other

4 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@Shatnerz Nov 2024 Recommends
on HN thread Suits, money laundering, and linear programming
> This is called "layering" I believe it is actually "structuring". Layering is a step in money laundering where layers of legitimacy are added as money moves around. Structuring is breaking larger transactions into smaller transactions in order to avoid detection. Smurfing is also similar to structuring and honestly I don't understand the difference well enough to explain, but they are often used interchangeably in my experience. edit: Here is a short educational video on the topic of money laundering: [this video]
Short educational video on money laundering.

Citations, criticism and jokes

@openknot Feb 2022 Cites it
on HN thread Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds
That's right; your comment brings to mind this scene where the character Saul Goodman explains money laundering in Breaking Bad (this clip is supposedly shown as part of university lectures): [this video]
Saul Goodman explains money laundering; used in lectures.
@objclxt Apr 2022 Cites it
on HN thread The candy stores of Oxford Street
> Why do you think it money laundering? What’s the exact mechanism? [this video] Replace "nail salon" with "candy" and you're there. Candy is a great product for this because it's high-margin, and very low value.
Illustrates the laundering mechanism via a cash-heavy storefront.
@nostrademons Apr 2023 Cites it
on HN thread An Update on Tornado Cash
Poor analogy. Speech and ideas are constitutionally protected in the U.S; accommodations are not (well, other than quartering of soldiers). A better analogy is that the government can prosecute people for doing the actions described in the Breaking Bad scene on money laundering [1], but they cannot prosecute the writers of Breaking Bad, the networks it's shown on, YouTube, or people who link to it. [1] [this video]
Used as example of protected speech describing laundering.

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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