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In 2003, Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents initiated an investigation of several non-profit organizations in the United States. These were all registered as tax-exempt organizations. The investigation revealed the organizations were operating as illegal wire remitting businesses…

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…

Information from SARs helped unravel a complex fraudulent banking scheme in which victims lost thousands of dollars to fake investments and a multinational financial institution had its identity stolen.The scheme to defraud investors allegedly started in late 2002, when an individual devised a plan…

Six people were convicted and sentenced for their involvement in a $12 million money laundering scheme. The scheme involved the wire transfers of drug proceeds to South American countries for the benefit of drug cartels.The defendants deposited drug proceeds into more than 50 bank accounts in the…

The filing of a number of Suspicious Activity Reports resulted in an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of three individuals for their part in the failure of a community bank that had been in business since the early 1900s. The individuals, one of whom was an officer at the bank,…

A purported entrepreneur convinced scores of individuals to invest in ventures and businesses supposedly related to the extraction of natural resources that were, in reality, part of a sophisticated Ponzi scheme. The defendant followed a familiar pattern evident in such schemes: paying earlier…

Through a proactive review of SARs, a Federal agent identified records detailing structured transactions, unusual withdrawals, and unexplained wire transfers. The subsequent investigation uncovered over $2 million in cash and wire transfers from a drug-related money laundering conspiracy involving…

Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted an investigation based on a number of Suspicious Activity Reports involving a licensed money services business. The owners and operators of the money services business conspired with unlicensed money remitters (couriers) to commit criminal acts. The…

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…

An investigator in the District Attorney’s office was conducting a proactive search in the BSA database for illicit activity and found a SAR filed on a business thought to be operating as an unlicensed money remitter. The office opened an investigation on the subjects of the SAR and obtained guilty…