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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…

Proactive SAR Review Leads to Guilty Plea on Conspiracy and Money Laundering Charges

A Suspicious Activity Report detailing more than $4.6 million worth of fraudulent activity associated with electronics sales over the Internet prompted a SAR review team to initiate a case on a subject known to have been previously identified with fraudulent activity. The filer reported that the…

Local Municipality Case Example (Failure to Follow Reporting Requirements)

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 “Extremely Helpful” in Tracing Proceeds from Fraudulent Venture Capital Scheme

In late 2005, two individuals pleaded guilty to running a scheme to defraud hundreds of investors out of millions of dollars through phony pre-initial public offering stock sales. The pair claimed they worked for a venture capital firm that was underwriting a public stock offering for a company…

Owner of Service Company Sentenced in Tax Evasion Scheme

The owner of a service company was sentenced to three years in prison and two years supervised release following a guilty plea to structuring financial transactions to evade reporting requirements. An officer of the company pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return and was sentenced to 18…

SAR Reports Structuring by Unlicensed Msb

ICE agents and analysts in a state in the Southwest developed information from a SAR that an out-of-state business was structuring deposits of large sums of cash and was operating as an unlicensed MSB. During a two-month period, this business made outgoing wire transfers totaling approximately $…

Suspicious Activity Reports Aid in Ponzi Scheme Investigation

A subject was sentenced in United States District Court to serve the longest prison term possible under Federal sentencing guidelines for claiming he was earning huge profits on a stock trading formula where he was actually using investors’ money to buy homes and luxury items. The subject was…

FinCEN Data Proves to be Instrumental in Fraud Case

In a case propelled by information found in BSA records, an individual pleaded guilty to numerous charges, including the production of false identification documents. Notably, as soon as investigators became aware of the suspect's activity they queried BSA records and found details related to…

BSA Documents Lead to Repatriation & Seizure of over $9 Million Generated by Illegal Internet Pharmacy

In 2005, a federal task force initiated a 2-year multi-agency investigation against an online pharmaceutical distribution network, resulting in indictments against 18 individuals. The investigation was based on information received from a cooperating witness, who alleged that a pharmaceutical…

Local Municipality Case Example (SARs/CTRs Lead to Asset Forfeiture)

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…