U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

News

Members of the media may email inquiries or interview requests to press@fincen.gov.

If you are not a member of the media, please visit the FinCEN contact page.

Suspicious Activity Report Initiates Bank Failure Investigation

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…

Proactive SAR Review Leads to the Arrest of Army Officer and Recovery of Iraqi War Funds

A U.S. military officer used his official position to steal currency designated for war use, transferred the funds to the United States, and then spent that money on personal items. When the defendant conducted transactions with the stolen currency at financial institutions, those transactions…

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…

Paralegal Found Guilty at Trial on Structuring Charges

Case summary: A lawyer and his paralegal assistant devised a scheme to defraud multiple credit card companies through a bankruptcy filing as a means to fund a real estate purchase. The pair structured the fraudulent proceeds through multiple banks to disguise the funds' origins. Although the…

BSA Filings Identify Financial Scams Bilking Investors out of $2.2 Million

In May 2003, two individuals pled guilty to first-degree money laundering charges. One defendant was sentenced to 12 years incarceration, and ordered to pay $500,000 to the Anti-Money Laundering Profiteering Fund. The second defendant was sentenced to 18 years incarceration. A month earlier, in…

Major Credit Card Thief Convicted

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…

SAR Filings Reveal Methamphetemine Production Ring

The owner of a company that distributed various products to small independent convenience and grocery stores was sentenced to 188 months in prison after his conviction on drug, money laundering, and Title 31 charges. The company was distributing pallet-load quantities of psuedoephedrine to a…

SAR Identifies Suspects Involved in a Nigerian Advance Fee Scam

Two suspects, a husband and wife, had been corresponding with individuals in Nigeria for several months concerning a transfer of $30 million from Nigeria to their bank account. The suspects, skeptical of the promises made by the foreign philanthropist, performed their own investigation via the…

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…

Suspicious Activity Reports Identify Transactions Linked to Embezzlement of a Tribal Authority

A U.S. district judge sentenced a financial manager to 10 years in custody for using two financial institutions to launder funds from an embezzlement he orchestrated while working for an Indian tribal government entity receiving Federal funds. He was charged with stealing more than $180,000 over…