Specialty Areas: Preventing Prosecution: Alleged Violations of Federal Cash Transaction Reporting Laws

Alleged Violations of Federal Cash Transaction Reporting Laws

Several of our clients have been investigated for breaking up a larger sum of currency to be deposited into a bank into amounts below $10,000, allegedly in order to evade the “anti-structuring provisions” of the federal cash transaction reporting laws. These laws are dangerous in that, in the hands of an overzealous prosecutor, they can be used in an attempt to criminalize lawful conduct. In two of these cases, we persuaded the authorities that the deposited funds were not the proceeds of any criminal activity – for example, the currency was inherited. We also cast doubt on the government’s ability to prove that our clients intended to violate these laws.

We also represented several clients who were enormously successful black jack players who systematically used very large sums of cash to gamble in casinos. They sometimes used assumed names because certain casinos would exclude them if they used their real names. On several occasions, law enforcement became aware of the large amount of cash possessed by the clients and investigated. On one such occasion, one of the clients inadvertently left over $200,000 in cash in a garbage bag in a university classroom. After the money was turned into the university by an honest janitor, a multi-agency investigation was launched to determine whether the currency was the proceeds of criminal activity, etc. Eventually, we worked out an arrangement for the return of the clients’ funds and none of them was prosecuted.

Next: Alleged Embezzlement and Mail Fraud

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