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Insurance Executive Sentenced in Embezzlement Scheme

In a case initiated based on the filing of a SAR, a former high-ranking officer of an insurance firm, who was charged in a multiple-count federal indictment including counts of embezzling insurance premiums, falsifying records and filing false tax returns, has been sentenced to almost two years…

Jury Convicts Man in Unlicensed Money Transmission Scheme

Information gleaned by an interagency investigation from SARs led to the successful prosecution of a man for operating an illegal money transmitting system. On April 30, 2002, a federal jury convicted the defendant for knowingly running an illegal money transmitting operation without a state…

Lengthy Sentence for Owning a Marijuana Farm

A defendant was sentenced to serve multiple months in prison followed by several years probation, after pleading guilty to narcotics trafficking charges and structuring financial transactions to evade the currency reporting requirements in connection with a marijuana growing operation. The…

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…

Man Pleads Guilty to Laundering $5.9 Million in Drug Proceeds

An individual from Catlettsbury, Kentucky pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on May 19, 1999, to laundering $5.9 million in drug proceeds from the sale of marijuana in West Virginia and Kentucky. The indictment alleged that the individual, his brothers, his stepbrother, and three other…

Metal Traders Charged in International Bank Fraud Scheme

In May 2002, three (3) principals and the former treasurer of a group of metal trading companies were charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud in connection with a sophisticated international scheme to defraud banks worldwide of more than $600 million. The…

Money Laundering Scheme Transferred Over $12 Million to South American Countries

Six people were convicted and sentenced for their involvement in a $12 million money laundering scheme. The scheme involved the wire transfers of drug proceeds to South American countries for the benefit of drug cartels.

The defendants deposited drug proceeds into more than 50 bank…

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…

Numerous SARs and CTRs Aid in Hawala Investigation

In March 2002, the FBI opened an investigation into the activities of a hawala dealer in the western United States. Limited initial information received from a citizen complaint prompted a query of the BSA database. The query yielded 30 SARs and 13 CTRs, which were instrumental in identifying…

One Hundred SARs Help Outline Size and Scope of Fraudulent Mortgage Elimination Scheme

In 2006, a Federal grand jury indicted several businesses and individuals, including mortgage brokers, on numerous charges of mail fraud, bank fraud, conspiracy to commit mail, wire and bank fraud and contempt of court in a nationwide scheme that purported to eliminate the mortgages of thousands…