[mseebach]

First, I think you're thinking of tax evasion, not money laundering. If company B's money is illicit, it doesn't become less illicit because it's used to buy art.

Second, it's not quite as simple as that. Company B will have to convince their auditors that this painting is indeed worth $100,000, and Mr. A might also be asked to explain how it is that a company that might otherwise owe him roughly $90,000 suddenly became so interested in this particular, and very recently much increased in value, piece of art.

Bottom line, this strategy depends on not getting audited, and there are much simpler strategies that work perfectly well under such circumstances.

[lmm]

> If company B's money is illicit, it doesn't become less illicit because it's used to buy art.

Individual A now has clean money - they successfully speculated in the art market - even if company B's money was dirty.