A Suspicious Activity Report detailing more than $4.6 million worth of fraudulent activity associated with electronics sales over the Internet prompted a SAR review team to initiate a case on a subject known to have been previously identified with fraudulent activity. The filer reported that the…
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In early 2012, FinCEN conducted outreach to all of its state and local law enforcement partners, and asked for cases where FinCEN data played a useful role in their investigations. Below, in their own words, is an example of how FinCEN's stakeholders use FinCEN data. It has been edited only for…
In late 2005, two individuals pleaded guilty to running a scheme to defraud hundreds of investors out of millions of dollars through phony pre-initial public offering stock sales. The pair claimed they worked for a venture capital firm that was underwriting a public stock offering for a company…
The owner of a service company was sentenced to three years in prison and two years supervised release following a guilty plea to structuring financial transactions to evade reporting requirements. An officer of the company pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return and was sentenced to 18…
ICE agents and analysts in a state in the Southwest developed information from a SAR that an out-of-state business was structuring deposits of large sums of cash and was operating as an unlicensed MSB. During a two-month period, this business made outgoing wire transfers totaling approximately $…
A subject was sentenced in United States District Court to serve the longest prison term possible under Federal sentencing guidelines for claiming he was earning huge profits on a stock trading formula where he was actually using investors’ money to buy homes and luxury items. The subject was…
Investigators uncovered a large-scale mortgage fraud scheme that originated from a SAR filed on a subject, who turned out to be a victim of the fraud scheme. In addition to filing the SAR, the filing institution also notified the district attorney's office, which opened the investigation and…
In 2005, a federal task force initiated a 2-year multi-agency investigation against an online pharmaceutical distribution network, resulting in indictments against 18 individuals. The investigation was based on information received from a cooperating witness, who alleged that a pharmaceutical…
In early 2012, FinCEN conducted outreach to all of its state and local law enforcement partners, and asked for cases where FinCEN data played a useful role in their investigations. Below, in their own words, is an example of how FinCEN's stakeholders use FinCEN data. It has been edited only for…