follow the money

English

Etymology

Popularized in All the President's Men (1976).

Verb

follow the money (third-person singular simple present follows the money, present participle following the money, simple past and past participle followed the money)

1. To analyze money flows in order to uncover corruption or other criminal activities.
   • 1976, William Goldman, All the President's Men, spoken by Deep Throat:

     No, I have to do this my way. You tell me what you know, and I'll confirm. I'll keep you in the right direction if I can, but that's all. Just… follow the money.

   • 2003 April 21, William Safire, “Follow the Money”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Then follow the money: We know that President Bashar Assad turned an ophthalmologist's blind eye to Saddam's use of the Syrian port of Tartus to import missile fuel components from China and night-vision goggles from Russia.

   • 2018 April 29, Aubrey A Jones, “Letters: beat fraud: follow the money”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     His success in tackling and convicting members of Cosa Nostra was by following the money; this is the only way leading members of organised crime syndicates will ever be convicted.

See also

• cui bono

Further reading

• follow the money on Wikipedia.Wikipedia