Newsroom

The owner of a company that distributed various products to small independent convenience and grocery stores was sentenced to 188 months in prison after his conviction on drug, money laundering, and Title 31 charges. The company was distributing pallet-load quantities of psuedoephedrine to a broker…

A suspect used “convenience checks” issued by credit card companies to steal nearly $1 million, travel internationally, and purchase expensive items and real estate. The suspect engaged in a scheme for five years in which he created 20 fake identities and more than nine bogus business entities for…

An FBI investigation was initiated upon the receipt of a SAR from a bank in New York that identified deposits being structured to avoid the filing of CTRs. This case was worked jointly with the FBI, New York City Department of Investigation, IRS, and U.S. Customs Service. Over 80 SARs were filed by…

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…

On December 12, 2002, the Delaware State Police obtained a federal conviction for bank fraud against a former bank employee. The subject was sentenced to two years federal incarceration and an additional five years federal probation. The Delaware State Police received information from a local city…

A U.S. Customs Service investigation in the Washington, D.C. area was initiated after a Virginia-based bank reported suspicious currency activity on a suspected money launderer. The information indicated possible structuring of financial transactions. The suspect had no visible means of support yet…

A suspect was sentenced to multiple months in prison and ordered to pay more than $1 million in back taxes owed on several million dollars in income that was never reported to the Internal Revenue Service. The income was earned from two related businesses that the suspect operated during a 4-year…

Six defendants pled guilty and received prison time for defrauding investors in a case that started when a securities firm noticed suspect transactions and reported the activity to law enforcement. The defendants created a bogus investment scheme, marketed it over the Internet, and defrauded nearly…

A proactive SAR review task force identified a record that described structuring in an account of an individual who was subsequently found to not be involved in the suspected criminal activity. The investigators began focusing on the subject who caused the structured transaction noted in the SAR.…

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…