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In May 2000, a federal jury convicted an individual from Norwood, Massachusetts, on two counts of money laundering believed to be the proceeds of narcotic sales. At the time of the offense, the individual worked at a Brockton, Massachusetts check cashing business. In May 1998, an undercover…

A nationwide conspiracy to purchase cigarettes in the South and illegally sell them in Northern States resulted in the loss of millions of dollars in state tax revenue. In some cases, the unpaid tax on a carton of cigarettes was almost $40 a carton. Some of the conspirators made trips south to…

In late 2005, two individuals pleaded guilty to running a scheme to defraud hundreds of investors out of millions of dollars through phony pre-initial public offering stock sales. The pair claimed they worked for a venture capital firm that was underwriting a public stock offering for a company. In…

A Suspicious Activity Report facilitated the investigation of a large bank failure that received national attention due to its size and the related criminal actions. The subject of the investigation, a former loan officer with a bank, initiated a series of nominee loans. He funneled the proceeds of…

In late 2006, a United States Attorney’s Office secured a guilty plea in a major racketeering case involving trash collectors and organized crime. The multi-state investigation included ten federal, state, and local agencies and resulted in a multiple-count indictment. Hundreds of BSA records…

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…

In a case that started with the discovery of structuring at a local credit union, investigators found corruption and kickbacks on the part of public transit and utilities officials. With some corrupt officials asking for a percentage in kickbacks on multi-million dollar contracts, the contractors…

The joint investigation among several federal and local law enforcement officials was initiated as the result of a SAR filing. In February 2002, three (3) brothers pled guilty to fraudulently selling food stamps out of their convenience store. The scam netted nearly $2 million. The brothers also…

Case one. A multi-agency investigation of several subjects engaged in a Ponzi scheme, in which 5,000 investors were defrauded of $67 million, was aided by the filing of a SAR by a financial institution in Hawaii. Proceeds of the scheme were deposited into numerous accounts at various business…

On February 15, 2000, an individual from New York pled guilty to three felony charges of money laundering, interstate transportation of stolen property, and credit card fraud. The defendant obtained access to fitness centers and country clubs across the country, stealing credit cards from gym…