In a case that started from a proactive review of Suspicious Activity Reports, a specialized mortgage fraud task force launched an investigation that led to charges against two individuals. Bank Secrecy Act records captured many of the scheme’s intricate details, including a SAR filed on one of…
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A married couple structured millions of dollars through their retail cigarette business using multiple financial institutions and branches. The defendants’ businesses were dependent upon individuals purchasing the cigarettes for illicit tax-free sales in other states. To avoid scrutiny, the…
A multi-agency task force, led by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, is investigating violations related to money laundering, tax fraud and material support to terrorism. As a…
An individual was recently sentenced in United States District Court to six months in prison for operating an unlicensed money transmitter business and for bankruptcy fraud. The subject was also ordered to forfeit over $25,000. This case was initiated after the review of numerous Suspicious…
The submission of a SAR filing led to the uncovering of a $28 million investment fraud scheme in which approximately 140 individuals were victimized. The subject convinced the victims/investors that he was a successful businessman who operated many highly profitable business ventures. The…
The Pennsylvania (Pa.) Office of Attorney General’s Asset Forfeiture and Money
Laundering Section conducted proactive targeting research on SARs that initiated a Pa. State Grand Jury Money Laundering investigation on two suspects.
FinCEN’s Gateway Program was utilized by the Pa.…
BSA information played a key role in the investigation and prosecution of a major drug trafficker. The information allowed investigators and prosecutors to identify additional accounts as well as measures that the defendant took to hide his illicit gains.
A cocaine dealer was recently…
SARs helped Federal investigators unravel a cross-country drug trafficking ring centered around a large urban university campus. The case featured shipments of marijuana and subsequent large currency deposits and withdrawals designed to avoid reporting requirements. Notably, a financial…
In a case started from SARs, investigators executing a search warrant found $1.8 million of unreported income stashed in a closet. Although the defendants legally earned the funds, they established a system to convert business revenues to cash with the explicit purpose of evading taxes. SARs…
In a case initiated from a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR), investigators found perpetrators were operating two separate fraud schemes. The first scheme, a check-kiting fraud, was only possible because of the complicity provided by the chief defendant’s wife who worked at the bank where the…