Money laundering is big business. Criminals turning illgotten gains na assets that appear legitimate, they set up a maze of dummy corporations and offshore accounts. How easy it is, steve croft found out for 60 minutes. Reporter look no further for evidence than changing skyline of new york city where much of the pricey real estate is being snapped up not by individuals but by Anonymous Shell Companies with secret owners. There is nothing ilg leelegal as long as money is legitimate. Who the real buyers are. One of the reasons Global Witness, london based Nonprofit Organization that exposed International Corruption came to new york city 19 months ago. It wanted to see how helpful u. S. Lawyers would be in concealing questionable funds. This hidden camera footage was shot in law firms across manhattan, without the lawyers knowledge. By the man in the gray coat with the german accent. Its ralph . Ralph kaiser. Not his real name. An investigator for Global Witness, posing as representative of a Government Official from a poor west african country who wants to move millions of dollars into suspicious fund into the United States. He need the lawyers help. Tell me what country . I cant tell you. It is one of those mineral rich countries in west africa. Attorney gerald ross and other lawyers were told seek res african minister had amassed his fortune collecting special payments from Foreign Companies he helped obtain valuable mineral rights. So companies are eager to get ahold of minerals. Yes. So they pay some special money for it. Kaiser said it was all legal. He told attorney james silkenaught that the minister was shopping for a townhouse, a jet and a yacht. But his name must not be connected to the purchases. If his name now would appear in connection with buying some real estate here and other items, it would look at least very, very embarrassing. Right. Presumably his salary and, wherever it is, would not cover the kind of acquisitions . Sure, the salary of a teacher here. Being able to buy property here . And to live a nice life but his name being out . Right. Any guesses as to how much money we are talking about, for the brownstone and other items . For the brownstone, 10 million. For second hand gulf stream, 10 million, 20 million. A yacht would be at least 2 million, 3 million. Reporter the fictitious story of the minister was cooked up in Global Witnesss London Office based on a Money Laundering case. The investigator phoned 50 law firms with experience in private Asset Protection and got face to face meetings with 16 lawyers in 13 firms. I would say, gray money. I think somebody, blank money. Reporter Global Witness says the pitch was designed to to raise red flags and to give the lawyers good reason to suspect came from official corruption. And they all did. I told you the money is a bit tainted. Tainted. Pretty much. Okay. You gave another expression. So i have to be frank. How would you name it . Some people call it bribes. No, not bribes. Business deals. Okay, bribe. Bribe. The story, the african minister would have raised eyebrows for the average person on the street. Cofounder of Global Witness, public Advocacy Group that exposes. Corruption in the developing world. Previous underconinvestigations, exposed the african blood diamond. This investigation, she says, exposes flaws in the u. S. Legal system that made it a hub for international Money Laundering. What the lawyers laid out for different possibilities and ways in which it could be done. Reporter if you want to get dirty money into the United States it is not that hard to do. I am saying there is an open door. And pretty shocking and pretty concerning. Because, that money could be coming from anywhere. Reporter of the 16 lawyers that Global Witness recorded in the preliminary meetings, only attorney, Jeffrey Herman fltly declined to participate and showed ralph kaiser the door. I have some real question as but that. Under the foreign corrupt practices. Right. Under the foreign corrupt practices act, bribing foreign officials is illegal. Buy americans. By americans. But americans are not involved . American entities. Its not aside from one exception. 12 of 13 law firms, including 15 of 16 lawyers, not only heard kaiser out, they suggested ways that the suspicious fund could be moved into the u. S. Without compromising the ministers identity. Attorney james silkenaught was select by Global Witness. At the time heap was president was president of american bar association. He and his colleague, provided what prosecutors said was a road map using layers of interconnected Shell Companies in multiple jurisdictions. Presumably, set up a little bit of series of owners to tripe to have protect, privacy as much as anything else. Yeah. Company a owned by b, c, d. The majority of the shares of cc and d. Create several companies all in new york . At some point. Probably pretty quickly you go offshore. Reporter attorney john jankoff and partner, recommended variations of the same strategy. Lot of people in africa use the isle of mann, some use liechtenstein, and just take his millions of dollars put it into a swiss bank account. Swiss will have it. And then he comes to us. Then he comes to us,. The attorney also suggested the minister could move his money out of west africa to europe where it could be scrubbed in anonymous corporate entity that his firm would be happy to set up. The money as it sits now, in his name . It is different names. So it will come asas different names. Including his name. We have to scrub it at the beginning or intermediary location. How you do this . That means the bank in liechtenstein, luxembourg . Well set up an appropriate entity. Called it clientoverseas. Com. Whatever. That will send money into the United States. Reporter if that was a banker talking instead of a lawyer. He could be in serious trouble. Thats because under u. S. Law, bankers are required to report suspicious financial activity to the authorities. Lawyers are under no such legal obligation. Banks in america are required to be cognizant of risk and report on it if there is an issue, or Money Laundering. Yet, absolutely bizarrely american lawyers arent. This is clearly an issue. I think our investigation has shown the potential for what regulation. Reporter Global Witness says that anomaly is one of the flaws in the u. S. Legal system that helps facilitate Money Laundering. Another is the ease with which Anonymous Shell Companies can be set up here to conceal ownership of money and assets. Last year, 2 million new corporations were set up in the United States, many with no offices, products, or employees. Just an address, and perhaps a bank account. The in many states across america you need less identification to open an Anonymous Company than a library guard. Anonymous shell come pans are get away cars for crooks. Designed to put them as far away as possible from the scene of their crime. According to a world bank study, the u. S. Was the favorite place to set up Anonymous Shell Companies. Study and the u. S. Was easiest place to set up after kenya. Did the study have anything to do with your decision to do these undercover investigations . It inspired us. We thought it cant beep this bad, can it. What we found was it is. Well have part two of steve crofts story, tomorrow. Or seat full report on our website. Cbsnews. Com. The overnight news will be right back. And getting some rest. And you can combine these simple remedies with airborne. 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This affordable plan through the Colonial Penn program has Coverage Options for just 9. 95 a month. Your rate is locked in and can never go up. And your acceptance is guaranteed, with no health questions. See how much coverage you can get for your free information kit. sounds of birds whistling music introducing new ky touch gel cr me. For massage and intimacy. Every touch, gently intensified. A little touch is all it takes. The World Health Organization declared International Emergency over the zika virus. The virus carried by mosquitoes and running rampant through latin america and the caribbean. Most people may not notice they have zika. For pregnant women it can cause miscarriage or birth defects. Coordinated response is needed to minimize the threat in affected countries and reduce the risk of further international spread. Dr. Jon lapook has more from ground zero in the zika fight. Brazil hardest hit by the zika arice. May have arrived in 2014 in the u. S. Soccer tournament since then exploded infecting 1. 5 Million People here in brazil alone. The fear is it could spread to another 4 Million People across the americas in the next 12 months. Its become an all too Common Health officials spraying insecticide in the hopes of killing this. The mosquito responsible for the zika virus sweeping through latin america and the caribbean. The virus suspected of causing increase in microcephaly. Children born with unusually small heads often with brain damage. More than 4,100 suspected cases of microcephaly report sewed far in brazil. Pregnant women fear other side effects from the virus. The public doesnt know everything. We dont know, exactly the consequence of it only microcephaly. Reporter tourism will likely suffer despite officials downplaying risks to visitors. Rios carnival begins, february 5th. Health workers here took to the streets armed with instruments and information. And brazil set to host the summer olympics in august. Are already under way. Athletes are using bug spray staying indoors. Kind of scary. Nothing really you can do. If you get bit you get bit. The cbs overnight news will be right back. Exams. So why do i do it . Because i get paid. Und. On this side of the glove i know prostate exams can save lives. So, if you are a man over 50, talk to you doctor to see if a prostate exam is right for you. If we can do it, so can you. If you are planning taking a trip to niagara falls. Go soon. New york state is making plans to dewater the falls on the u. S. Side. Two historic bridges are in desperate need of repair the to get that done they have to reroute the river at least for a time. Vinita nair has more from the falls. Reporter you see and hear the roaring falls, hard to imagine engineers could divert this much water. 15 of the water. The canadian side has 85 of it. The plan could affect that side as well. It is a view that will take your breath away. More than 750,000 gallons of water gush over the edge every second. But for the millions of tourist each year they could soon be in for a big surprise. What makes us nervous when the featured attraction American Falls has to be turned off. Even for a short period of time. Reporter yes, turned off. The new York State Parks Department wants to divert the river to the canadian side to replace two bridges closed to the public since 2004. Rotted and rusted from century next to the falls. Either we replace them or they crumble into the river. If they crumble we will have an environmental mess to clean up. Reporter daming the river would make american side nonexistent while the horse shoes falls in canada would become more intense. Dewatering could lead to more visitors seeking once in a lifetime opportunity. Potential is huge for us to build a successful strategic, directed Marketing Campaign around the activity. Reporter this isnt the stopped flowing. In 1969, u. S. Army corps of engineers diverted water, to study effects of erosion. Ultimately the temporary dam was removed with millions of coins people tossed in. And being in upstate new york they can freeze during the winter or aper to. In 2014 and 2015 during the polar vortex, ice formations grew out of the falls. Underneath the water kept rushing. For locals seeing the icon waterless is a step in the right direction. This is such a beautiful area, one of the wonders of the world. Finally theyre putting money become into this place. Reporter if the project is a prove it will still take several years for the work to begin. Talking 2019. Officials would still have to secure about 37 million worth of funding. One piece of advice, we have for engineers. Thats the overnight news for this tuesday. For some of you, the news continue thousands. For others check back with us a little later for the morning news and cbs this morning from the Broadcast Center in new york this is the cbs overnight news. Freshman senator ted cruz of texas has done it. He won last nights republican caucuses in iowa. Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders split the vote. Cruz beat donald trump who finishes second after skipping the last gop debate. A surprisingly strong showing by florida senator marco rubio gives him third place. And a claim to the title establishment alternative. Mike huckabee who won iowa eight years ago is dropping out. Tonight is a victory for millions of americans who have shouldered the burden of seven years of washington deals run tonight is a victory for every american who has watched in dismay as career politicians in washington in both parties refuse to listen and too often fail to keep their commitments to the people. Tonight is a victory for every american who understands that after we survive eight long years of the obama presidency, that no one personality can right the wrongs done by washington. To the revolutionary understanding that all men and all women are created equal. That our rights do not come from the Democratic Party or the Republican Party or even from the tea party. Our rights come from our and the federal governments role, the federal governments responsibility is to defend those fundamental rights, to defend us. And while americans will continue to suffer, under a president who has set an agenda that is causing millions to hurt across this country, i want to remind you of the promise of scripture. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. And we finished second, i want to till you something. Im just honored. Really honored. I want to congratulate ted. I want to congratulate all of the incredible candidates including Mike Huckabee who has become a really good friend of mine. Congratulations to everybody. Congratulations. We have had every indication, we are going now on, we have a poll we are at 28 points ahead. New hampshire. We love new hampshire. We love south carolina. And, were leaving tonight and tomorrow afternoon well be in new hampshire. That will be something special. A great week. Up here next week. I think we are going to be proclaiming victory, i hope. I will say this i dont know who is going to win between bernie and hillary, i dont know what is going to happen with hillary has got other problems maybe bigger than the problems she has in terms of nominations. But we have had so many different indications and polls that we beat her and we beat her easily. We will go on to get the republican nomination and we will go on to easily beat hillary or bernie or who ever iowa, we love you. We thank you. Youre special. We will be back many, many times. In fact, i think i might come here and buy a farm. I love it. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. For months they told us we had no chance. For months they told us because we offered too much optimism in the time of anger we had no chance. For months they told us because we dont have the right endorsements or the right political connections we had no chance. They told me that that we have no chance because my hair wasnt gray enough and my boots were too high. They told me i need to wait my turn. That i needed to wait in line. It is your turn iowa, the people of this great state sent a very clear message. After seven years of barack obama, we are not waiting any longer to take our country back. [ cheers and applause ] when i am the nominee, we are going to unify this party, and we are going to unify the conservative movement. Now to the democrats where the race is too close to call. Hillary clinton who once had a commanding lead is essentially tied with Bernie Sander