In a case initiated from SARs, Federal agents uncovered two businesses that were hiring illegal aliens in order to provide skilled and unskilled labor services to area warehouses. The businesses then paid the illegal aliens in cash, with funds withdrawn by the president and office manager in…
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A Suspicious Activity Report review team identified SARs filed by three different financial institutions within several months on the same subject, describing similar transactions involving structuring and the wire transfer of funds to an Eastern European country (Country A).
According to…
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…
A business owner was sentenced to several years in prison followed by three years supervised release and ordered to pay a fine of nearly $1 million. The defendant was convicted of three counts of tax evasion and one count of structuring a financial transaction to avoid federal currency…
In early 2006, a U.S. Attorney’s Office secured guilty pleas from two businesses for evading Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) reporting requirements by structuring deposits. The presiding judge sentenced the businesses to unsupervised probation, and as part of the agreement, the businesses agreed to…
A SAR filed by a financial institution in Pennsylvania led to a joint investigation by the IRS/Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the FBI into a network of Brazilian nationals that used U.S. banks to launder the proceeds generated from stolen checks. Additional SARs…
An illegal alien pleaded guilty to stealing Social Security numbers, fabricating names, and swindling almost $2 million dollars from credit card companies.
The defendant’s name surfaced in the course of an investigation into organized criminal activity. Suspicious Activity Reports document…
SARs initiated the investigation of an automobile dealer who held several accounts at different institutions and continually transferred funds among the accounts, which caused the accounts to be overdrawn by millions of dollars. In addition to filing the SARs, the bank also notified law…
BSA records often play a crucial role in federal investigations of medical fraud. The records are often instrumental in seizing assets and shutting down businesses that may be perpetrating the fraud. Some of the businesses may exist on paper only, and prosecution of the perpetrators is often…