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 suspect used “convenience checks” issued by credit card companies to steal nearly $1 million, travel internationally, and purchase expensive items and real estate. The suspect engaged in a scheme for five years in which he created 20 fake identities and more than nine bogus business entities…
A Pennsylvania man was sentenced to 15 months in prison followed by 3 years probation for structuring bank transactions to prevent the IRS from learning about profits earned from his role in sports card theft. The man owned a company involved in the sale of sports cards and was found to be…
Three family members pled guilty to charges including bankruptcy fraud, structuring, providing false statements, and mail fraud for their involvement in a bankruptcy fraud scheme that included structuring transactions and concealing funds from credit card companies and financial institutions,…
In a case where Federal prosecutors stepped in to help local law enforcement, BSA records identified millions of dollars generated through an illegal gambling operation. State authorities had few tools to punish the defendants because the state charges were only misdemeanors. To shut down the…
Investigators opened a case after receiving a call from a family friend of a wealthy elderly woman who suspected the woman was being taken advantage of financially. With this information the law enforcement officials proceeded to research BSA documents and found SARs describing structuring on…
A SAR filed by a bank on a subject for orchestrating a series of structured transactions revealed that those transactions occurred while the subject was on probation for an earlier criminal offense. During proactive reviews of SARs, an analyst recognized the defendant’s name and forwarded the…
A bank employee devised a scheme to embezzle funds from work through a complex scheme that lasted more than 2 ½ years. The scheme involved automated debit and credit transactions conducted through multiple accounts. The Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) filed on the theft details how the fraud…
A U.S. Customs Service investigation in Houston of a criminal organization involved in the repackaging and exportation of stolen commercial baby formula was aided by an analysis of SAR filings and CTRs. The criminal network, which operated in several states, laundered their illicit profits…
The filing of a number of Suspicious Activity Reports resulted in an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of three individuals for their part in the failure of a community bank that had been in business since the early 1900s. The individuals, one of whom was an officer at the…