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Doctor Pleads Guilty to Charges Related to Failure to Comply with BSA Reporting Requirements for Overseas Accounts

Case summary: In 2010, a United States Attorney announced that a doctor pled guilty to conspiracy to impede the United States and to making a false statement. He was facing a maximum sentence of ten years in prison and a maximum fine of $500,000.

Case details: According to court…

Bank Secrecy Act Data Is an Integral Component of the FBI’s Geographic Information Mapping Technology

U.S. law enforcement and regulatory agencies give priority to detecting terrorist financing. In particular, they seek to identify individuals or businesses used as fundraising vehicles and to detail the movement of financial assets. Effectively implementing strategies that prevent, disrupt and…

Money Remitting Business Laundering Drug Proceeds

A routine Suspicious Activity Report review by geographic zip codes led to the discovery of a retail store operator operating as a subagent for a licensed money services business. The preliminary investigation by the filing institution, along with a follow-up investigation by the Drug…

SAR Initiates Investigation of Illegal Money Transfers to Iran

In February 2002, SAR information provided by an investment account firm revealed wire transfers in excess of $500,000 originated from an individual's account, through a trading company in Dubai, UAE, for transfer to Iran. Investigation disclosed the account holder had made comments to the…

Suspicious Activity Report Leads to Structuring Conviction and Links to Drug Investigation

In 2005, a federal judge sentenced an individual to two years in prison for structuring monetary transactions to avoid reporting requirements. The case started when a financial institution documented unusual financial activity on a series of SARs and notified the Internal Revenue Service, which…

SARs Help Uncover Bid-Rigging Scandal

In a case where political corruption led to bid rigging of public housing contracts in order to defraud the government, BSA records proved instrumental in understanding the scheme. In this case, perpetrators repeatedly structured financial transactions in order to hide business relationships and…

BSA Records Show Money Received through Mortgage-Related Ponzi Scheme Supported Million-Dollar Gambling Habit

A federal investigator characterized BSA data as extremely important in determining how the defendant in a multi-million dollar fraud case spent the proceeds. FinCEN researchers recovered almost 400 Casino CTRs related to the defendant dating back more than 10 years. Although some of the casino…

State Agency Case Example (Money Services)

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…

Bank Secrecy Act Records Help Initiate Case and Lead to Networking of Separate Investigations

In 2005, a U.S. Attorney announced the indictment of three individuals operating an under-the-table payroll scheme. Under the scheme, defendants allegedly paid hundreds of temporary employees tens of millions of dollars in unreported cash payroll over a ten-year period. The case, initiated and…

Operation Cheque Mate

Operation Cheque Mate was initiated in June 2002, after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement source provided information about a United Kingdom-based organization defrauding United States futures and securities firms. This source led to the discovery of many Suspicious Activity Reports which…