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…
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A federal credit union filed a SAR and helped initiate an investigation into a counterfeit check scheme that had similarities with Nigerian 419 fraud schemes. These frauds, designated as such because of the section of the Nigerian criminal code that prohibits them, often promise substantial…
A retail store owner, who operated an unlicensed hawala (a form of an informal value transfer system), was sentenced to multiple months in prison and several years’ probation. The defendant pled guilty to failure to register as a money services business as required by FinCEN and to filing a…
In April 2002, predicated by numerous SAR filings by two large banks, the FBI initiated an investigation into an investment scam. The SARs were filed on numerous personal and business accounts with no obvious relationships to one another. Bank personnel eventually linked all accounts through the…
The IRS-Criminal Investigation and the FBI conducted an investigation of several individuals involved in soliciting investments and deposits in a financial institution that falsely claimed Indian tribal authority and offshore-style banking privacy. The defendants used the Internet to solicit…
Suspicious Activity Reports, filed by a credit union and money transmitter, led to the investigation of a retired officer who began accepting bribes while still in military service. The defendant orchestrated a scheme to ensure specific entities were awarded contracts for services related to the…
In order to satisfy fines and restitution ordered as a result of an earlier scheme, two defendants began a new multi-state advertising campaign scheme to attract buyers (mostly elderly) of non-existent certificates of deposits.
As part of the scheme, one of defendants rented office space…
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…
Through the review of a Suspicious Activity Report, the Federal Bureau of Investigation launched an investigation into an internal bank fraud that resulted in the conviction of the former president of the bank and his personal banking customer. In 2003, the two defendants were convicted at trial…
An investigation of a possible violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act was initiated following the filing of a SAR by a bank in New York. The SAR stated that an unnamed bank vice president in charge of the funds transfer program manipulated four payments to the Sudan…