Newsroom

Case Examples
SAR Filing Results in Arrests on Drug Trafficking and Money Laundering
A multi-agency money laundering/marijuana trafficking investigation was initiated following the filing of a SAR by a bank in Tennessee. The SAR disclosed that an individual was depositing large amounts of U.S. currency into three bank accounts. The deposits ranged from $5,000 to $25,000 with the…
Case Examples
State & Federal Agencies Seize $8.9 Million—Brought Together by Gateway Alert Match Program
The Pennsylvania (Pa.) Office of Attorney General’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section conducted proactive targeting research on SARs that initiated a Pa. State Grand Jury Money Laundering investigation on two suspects. FinCEN’s Gateway Program was utilized by the Pa. Attorney General’…
Guidance
Guidance to Financial Institutions on the Increasing Money Laundering Threat Involving Illicit Iranian Activity
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is issuing this advisory to U.S. financial institutions so that they may guard against threats of illicit Iranian activity related to money laundering, terrorist financing and weapons of mass destruction proliferation financing. The Financial Action Task…
Guidance
Interpretation of Suspicious Activity Reporting Requirements to Permit the Unitary Filing of Suspicious Activity and Blocking Reports
This FinCEN interpretive guidance clarifies that reports filed with the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) of blocked transactions with Specially Designated Global Terrorists, Specially Designated Terrorists, Foreign Terrorist Organizations, Specially Designated…
Guidance
Reminder of Requirement to File Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts Form TD F 90-22.1 ("FBAR")
The deadline to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts form ("FBAR") with the U.S. Department of the Treasury, in accordance with 31 CFR 103.24, for each calendar year is on or before June 30th of the following year. Thus, the deadline to file the FBAR for calendar year 2001 is June…
Case Examples
Suspicious Activity Reports Detail International Payments of Drug Trafficking Ring
In a case jump-started from an international law enforcement alert, investigators searched BSA records for a drug trafficking investigation and found a number of SARs describing international wire transfers. Previously, a local drug task force had identified the ringleader, but only as a low-level…
Case Examples
SAR Leads to Convictions of Members of Computer Chip Theft Ring
A New Hampshire bank filed a SAR on a group of individuals who were cashing numerous checks from a local salvage company for amounts under $10,000. Based on this SAR, an investigation was initiated by IRS-CI. During the course of the investigation, it was discovered that the men cashing the checks…
Case Examples
SAR Leads to Guilty Plea of Money Laundering
A SAR filed by a bank revealed that an individual had deposited over $44,000 to and withdrawn over $31,000 from his account in a one-month period. Subpoenaed bank records revealed that this individual had deposited over $103,000 in a nine-month period from late 1999 to mid-2000. The individual had…
Case Examples
Check Kite Nets Two
The Federal Bureau of Investigation opened an investigation based upon information in SARs filed by banks indicating significant check kiting activity. The subjects operated a number of small businesses in the area. Over the course of approximately two years, the subjects conducted a check kite…
Case Examples
Proactive Currency Transaction Report Reviews Lead to Tax Cheats
Case summary: In a proactive use of CTRs, the financial intelligence director with the Manhattan district attorney's office has identified hundreds of businesses that are using check cashers rather than banks as a means of evading Federal, State, and local taxes. The businesses have created, in…