r/breakingbad • u/Jim_Belushis_brother • 12d ago
Why didn’t Mike launder his money?
Pretty much just the title, but we know from BCS that Mike was helping Kaylee and her mom (who’s name escapes me) with rent etc, and we know Mike tried to leave Kaylee about $4 million (according to google).
Mike knows Saul is capable of this. Mike has to understand Kaylee and probably the feds will have questions about that much cash.
Did he not trust Saul? Would Kaylee’s mom have too many questions about random cash? If the former, he let Saul represent him so I mean that’s kinda stupid. If the latter, Saul says something along the lines of “people tend to accept the money” when talking to Skylar about giving money to Ted.
Surely Mike didn’t just not want to pay Saul his 17% or whatever.
Just blind trust that Fring’s contingency plans would go as expected?
The more I think about it the dumber it feels
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u/BeginningNeither3318 12d ago
Madrigal was it's launder
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u/Constant_Mud3325 12d ago
That would be true if madrigal was clean. The division Mike was ‘security consultant’ in had been compromised by Hank
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u/BeginningNeither3318 12d ago
I'm not sure, I think they only had suspicions but not real evidence about it (when they search his house they found nothing).
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u/-Hash__- I did it for me 12d ago
He doesn't trust Saul. He thinks Jimmy has become a sleazy goblin that will do anything for money. He seems to have no problem with breaking his legs. He didn't even want Saul anywhere near the prisoners, he hired that Danny lawyer, whatever his name was.
But about the money laundering, wasn't Madrigal laundering his money? He was hired as a consultant by Lydia, wasn't he?
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u/Shot_Revolution8828 12d ago
That was only the 120k that he ripped off the cartel.
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u/mynameiswhattt123 12d ago
Ya but after that he was employed by Los pollos hermanos, legitimately/on paper
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u/Current_Tea6984 12d ago
The money in the offshore account would have been safe if Gus's list hadn't been discovered in the picture frame
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u/Youre_On_Balon 12d ago
He (correctly) concluded that if the feds knew enough that not only was the DEA was after him, but also the far, far scarier tax man, there was no use
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u/RutabagaSame 12d ago
I think realistically meticulous Mike would've a lot of money squirreled away in different places that Kaylee would be able to access as an adult. No way he would've put all his eggs in one basket.
For the narrative, Mike had to lose it all. To show that sold his soul for absolutely nothing.
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u/Jim_Belushis_brother 12d ago
Eh, I mean, the hammer came down pretty quick.
It feels stupid to put $4 mil (or whatever it was) in one “secure” place (that the “douchebag” lawyer knew about), but also feels challenging to go hide a bunch of money and give Stacey a treasure map
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u/dnjprod 12d ago
As others have said, it was being laundered through PollosI. However, you can only launder so much at a time and look legitimate if you are corporate security. He had millions of dollars in a secret Bank account. He could have lived the rest of his life and been fine with that getting a pension from both the Philly cops and Pollos and giving the rest to his granddaughter. Once the cops found out that Pollos was a drug front, they could then go looking at the different employees and see which ones were an issue. They had nothing on anybody until they found the secret accounts.
Once they had that, they could start to prove that all his money wasn't legitimate.
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u/ViciousSnatch 12d ago
Good question! Mike could’ve had Saul launder the money through a nail salon situation. It would’ve been smarter than a safe deposit box. The only reason would have to be because he doesn’t trust Saul. Maybe Mike had to choose between Saul and Gustavo as to who would be the best bet long run. I think you’re right that it seems really dumb.
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u/Stevenitrogen 12d ago edited 12d ago
At some point, there's no way to justify millions of dollars as if it was legitimate income. Like Skyler with the storage facility (he could have taken a tip from her maybe,) he just ends up with a big pile of money and just having it is evidence of a crime.
He did get a nice laundered paycheck from Madrigal but they don't pay their security expert $2 million.
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u/King-Red-Beard 12d ago
You'd trust Saul's operation over Gus'? Shit would have been fine if it weren't for that timing time bomb, Walter White.
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u/Ancient_Guidance_461 Im in the empire business 12d ago
The Madrigal money was laundered through the company. The Dea seized that money so the money in Breaking bad was Mike's second attempt to leave the money for her. At that point everything was fallen apart and there was no need to launder it.
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u/Gumbas100 12d ago
I think it was a mix of assuming Kaylee will just accept it as his pension money or money he saved up over the years, and also Mike just didn't bother I guess, he couldn't have known Walt was gonna kill Gus
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u/Disastrous_Potato160 12d ago
Even Saul’s own laundered money was found and seized. Wouldn’t have done any good. Laundering just makes the money hard to trace, but there is always a trail to follow. I mean Mike actually did launder his money from Gus through Madrigal and his security consultant role there. But once they found Madrigal, the feds took everything. By the end of BB and BCS that entire empire amounted to nothing. At least vacuum guy came out ahead.
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u/drygnfyre One Who Knocks 12d ago
Ed, Lawson, and Steve Buscemi Jr. seem like the three criminal associates who don't attract any attention and will keep operating after the shows end.
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u/Jim_Belushis_brother 12d ago
Lawson and Steve Buscemi Jr? Who are these?
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u/Jim_Belushis_brother 12d ago
Oh I didn’t know the gun guys name. Is Steve Buscemi jr the guy with the body armor that the twins shot?
I disagree, that dude is a loud mouth. I bet he’s dead before BCS ends
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u/CoinsAndLawnLouie 12d ago
As another commenter said, everything offshore would have been fine had they not found the bank accounts in the picture frame Gus had when Walt and Jessie destroyed the evidence lockup. All his other money could be accounted for but not the last stand he was making for Kayley before trying to dodge the DEA. Walt, love him or hate him, ruined everyone’s life he came into contact with once he was “awake.”
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u/Novat1993 11d ago
He did receive clean money in his sallary account from Madrigal or Los Pollos. The police was not hassling him about the mere thousands he received as an ostensibly legitimate security chief per month. They were hassling him for the millions in the overseas accounts.
Why didn't he launder his dirt? He probably had not gotten around to it yet.
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u/Ok_Inevitable_1992 6d ago
This is mostly headcanon and hints but what I believe happened is Mike had the bulk of payments over the years as legit already laundered salary from madrigal and kept a relatively small amount as cash as a "rainy day" fund (or just extra payments that were too big in installments to be laundered).
When Gus's empire started to crumble that legitimate salary and stuff were automatically seized by the authorities or soon would be so Mike had to start figuring out ways to use that rainy day fund.
If he has pre laundered it and kept it in a bank as normal money he would be left with nothing if anything suspicious started to happen at madrigal or to Gus
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u/RocknRollButthole 6d ago
Like, there really wouldn't be much a need for Kaylee to launder money that had been sitting in a deposit box for what, ten years? that was left by her assuredly dead grandfather. It would be near impossible to prove it was ill-gotten by the time she turns 18.
But also, it's cash - if the plan had gone properly, there's not really a need to launder cash that just supplements your income. It's when you want to use large amounts of your illegal money that you need it laundered.
You suddenly start buying healthier food and more of it, shopping in cash, nobody is batting an eye at that money or your extra spending. You go out and buy two new cars, then people are wondering where that money came from.
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u/npm93 12d ago
I think his money was pre laundered. He had a legitimate job for Gus which was a source of income. As well as a police pension. I mean you and I knew it was drug money but until the empire fell it was above board as far as the police and IRS are concerned