Excerpt:
"While the report itself deals with one federal judge, Michael B. Thornton, research indicates that a majority of judges, state and federal, have loan histories redolent of money laundering. The scam is simple—Judge X takes out a loan and Y pays it back. This neatly detours 1) any official red flag raised by an entry of over $10,000 into an account and 2) the other problems inherent in receiving an envelope stuffed with cash.
...
And on the surface, loans taken out and repaid are a matter of general course, are they not?

The problem ensues when the loans are simply too large to be paid back in the time recorded, as were the loans taken out by Judge Leonard Hopzapfel and disclosed in this article ..."