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Case Examples
During a healthcare fraud investigation, a routine search of BSA records revealed CTRs and SARs on one of the subjects. These records opened up avenues of prosecution for money laundering charges as the SARs detailed a series of transactions designed to evade the BSA reporting requirements. Court…
Case Examples
A Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigation into a local cocaine and marijuana trafficker involved more than one cooperating source who knew of the trafficker but had no biographical data. A SAR was located that identified the trafficker, provided biographical data and notations that the…
Case Examples
On July 1, 1998, the Chief Financial Officer, President, and Vice-President of a check cashing company were arrested on money laundering charges stemming from a two-year investigation conducted by the Los Angeles office of the FBI and the Los Angeles Police Department. According to corporate…
Case Examples
A Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Bank Secrecy Act Enforcement Team received information that a business was a check cashing service, but the transactions within their bank accounts indicated that the business was involved in domestic money laundering and a pyramid fraud scheme. It…
Case Examples
A joint investigation conducted by the IRS/CID, DEA, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) was initiated by an analysis of SARs and CTRs filed by banks in Ohio. Two SARs led investigators to accounts that had over $1 million of cash deposits. A search warrant for the defendant’s…
Case Examples
Investigators looking into a large-scale international marijuana smuggling and money laundering operation received a break when two banks filed SARs on the targets. One bank filed SARs on structured deposits into a business account that held proceeds of the illegal operation. A second bank filed…
Case Examples
An investigation into the exportation of stolen merchandise exposed that the defendant was using a check kiting scheme to defraud local area banks resulting in losses exceeding $50,000. Subsequent to the defendant’s bond hearing, the defendant fled the jurisdiction and continued to engage in…
Case Examples
A federal investigator characterized BSA data as extremely important in determining how the defendant in a multi-million dollar fraud case spent the proceeds. FinCEN researchers recovered almost 400 Casino CTRs related to the defendant dating back more than 10 years. Although some of the casino…
Case Examples
Investigators looking at a drug trafficking organization were helped by Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) that a bank filed on an individual who laundered the illicit proceeds. Prosecutors charged that individual with hiding more than $800,000 belonging to an accused drug dealer involved in a…
Case Examples
In an innovative use of money laundering statutes, a State successfully prosecuted a defendant for violations of the Federal Bank Secrecy Act. The State’s money laundering statute includes criminal penalties for anyone attempting to avoid BSA reporting requirements and prosecutors were able to…