SAR Filing Trips Up Card Thief

A Pennsylvania man was sentenced to 15 months in prison followed by 3 years probation for structuring bank transactions to prevent the IRS from learning about profits earned from his role in sports card theft. The man owned a company involved in the sale of sports cards and was found to be stealing cards from a card manufacturer and selling them on the Internet. It is estimated that the subject sold between $350,000 and $500,000 in stolen cards. The scheme was uncovered when his bank filed a SAR after detecting apparent attempts by the subject to structure the cashing of third party checks to avoid reporting requirements. An IRS-CI investigation ensued, during which the theft scheme was uncovered. The subject pled guilty to tax and Title 31 charges.

(Source: IRS/Criminal Investigation)