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Case Examples
Suspicious Activity Report Initiates Material Support of Terrorism Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation initiated a Material Support of Terrorism investigation based on a Suspicious Activity Report filed by a bank detailing a series of overseas financial transactions totaling millions of dollars. Two of the participants in these transactions were a United States…
Case Examples
Organized Crime Network Attacked With the Help of SARs
The U.S. Customs Service in Chicago conducted an investigation of a Russian and Lithuanian organized crime group that was heavily involved in the smuggling of stolen luxury vehicles out of the U.S. into Europe. Independent analysis of a SAR filing showed suspicious behavior that related to the…
Case Examples
Bogus Life Insurance Investment Vehicles Identified through SAR Filing
The defendants in this case first settled a civil suit with the government concerning the sale of $7 million worth of fraudulent “prime-bank” note investments to investors nationwide. In the scheme, investigators found that less than half the money was used to pay fictitious investment returns to…
Case Examples
Suspicious Activity Report Credited with Revealing Bank Fraud Scheme and Unraveling Auto Insurance Fraud Ring that Nets Principal Defendant Nearly $1.3 Million and a Nine-Year Prison Term
In a case initiated from a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR), investigators found perpetrators were operating two separate fraud schemes. The first scheme, a check-kiting fraud, was only possible because of the complicity provided by the chief defendant’s wife who worked at the bank where the fraud…
Case Examples
Bank Secrecy Act Reports Cast Doubts on Alleged Victim's Story, Lead to Investigation and Indictment for Money Laundering and Operating an Illegal Online Pharmacy
An individual approached federal authorities and reported a story about drug smugglers. Agents questioned the individual's story and sought to authenticate his statements with queries in the BSA database. They instead found over a dozen CTRs and SARs that indicated the individual was involved in a…
Case Examples
Suspicious Activity Report Leads to the Investigation and Conviction of Elected Official
A bank filed a SAR on an elected official from a suburban locality who structured transactions totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. The SAR triggered an investigation that confirmed the structuring and identified evidence that the elected official committed perjury while filing a bankruptcy…
Case Examples
Proactive Suspicious Activity Report Review Leads to Guilty Plea for Money Remitter Structuring Transactions
A case initiated through a SAR review team identified a money remitter structuring transactions through multiple banks and accounts. Although registered withFinCEN, he did not properly license his business with state authorities. The banks initially became suspicious when he used his personal bank…
Case Examples
Corrupt Official Convicted on Numerous Charges Including Structuring
In a case where a corrupt politician extorted money from his constituents, investigators examining his financial records found numerous instances of structuring. In fact, three different banks filed SARs on the defendant detailing unusual transactions. Prosecutors charged the official with multiple…
Case Examples
SAR Leads to Structuring Conviction for Mortgage Broker
A federal law enforcement investigation led to the conviction of a mortgage broker who structured more than $500,000 into multiple accounts at various financial institutions. As part of the defendant’s guilty plea to structuring, he admitted that he structured specifically to avoid the Bank Secrecy…
Case Examples
SAR Leads to Break-Up of Stolen Check Ring
An individual walked into a Pennsylvania bank and opened one individual account and two business accounts. The individual then walked across the street to a different bank and opened three additional accounts. Unbeknownst to the individual, these two banks were in the process of merging and his…