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 couriers brought large sums of cash to the business that were subsequently deposited into the business’s bank accounts and then wired to the Middle East.
The investigation revealed that the money services business had a very limited number of clients, yet made many millions of dollars in cash deposits within a two-year period. The money services business’s owners failed to file Currency Transaction Reports for cash deposits made by their clients and prepared fraudulent records to evade the filing requirements.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement served a number of arrest and search warrants, as well as conducted subsequent consensual searches, and seized nearly $200,000.
(Source: Immigration and Customs Enforcement)