OT: Spitzer and Bank Accounts

[Coronita]

So i have a question regarding bank accounts. And it came from an article that I read about Spitzer.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/12/spitzer.investigation/index.html

 

According to two sources who spoke Tuesday with CNN, Spitzer hit the federal radar when a bank reported to the Internal Revenue Service that a significant amount of money had been suspiciously transferred from one account to another.

Late last year, upon investigating the movement of money that the bank initially reported, the IRS found that the accounts were connected to Spitzer, the sources said.

The IRS contacted the FBI, which joined the case to investigate the possibility of government corruption.

Federal law requires a banking institution to file a suspicious activity report when the institution suspects a transaction is linked to a federal crime. More specifically, banks are required to report to the IRS any transactions totaling $5,000 or more if the transactions "involve potential money laundering or a violation of the Bank Secrecy Act."

The act requires businesses to keep documents that are useful for identifying and investigating money laundering.

 

Dumb question: when you money money back and forth between two accounts electronically above said $5k, does this always trigger something from the bank to IRS? I'm just curious, because in this day and age, a lot of us have online accounts from ing, emigrant direct etc, and I routinely move money around just to get as much interest as i can, only to move it back to a checking when bills are due such as mortgages,cc,etc. I'm just wondering if these banks actively report these $5000+ transactions each time. It seems like it's a bit overkill imho, especially for some of us folks that have huge mortgages, etc. 

[Deal Hunter]

Yeah, it’s common practice in business to move money on a regualar bases. The banks report about 1 million SAR’s each month. I think Spitzer was targeted (or has been for a long time). He made lots of enemies and I’m sure it wasnt’ hard to find someone willing to put a tail on his accounts for some reason or another.

Another article showed he tried to deduct $48K in “non-food entertainment” on his Schedule C in 2006. I didn’t even know there was such a category on schedule C!

[Deal Hunter]

Yeah, it’s common practice in business to move money on a regualar bases. The banks report about 1 million SAR’s each month. I think Spitzer was targeted (or has been for a long time). He made lots of enemies and I’m sure it wasnt’ hard to find someone willing to put a tail on his accounts for some reason or another.

Another article showed he tried to deduct $48K in “non-food entertainment” on his Schedule C in 2006. I didn’t even know there was such a category on schedule C!

[Deal Hunter]

Yeah, it’s common practice in business to move money on a regualar bases. The banks report about 1 million SAR’s each month. I think Spitzer was targeted (or has been for a long time). He made lots of enemies and I’m sure it wasnt’ hard to find someone willing to put a tail on his accounts for some reason or another.

Another article showed he tried to deduct $48K in “non-food entertainment” on his Schedule C in 2006. I didn’t even know there was such a category on schedule C!

[Deal Hunter]

Yeah, it’s common practice in business to move money on a regualar bases. The banks report about 1 million SAR’s each month. I think Spitzer was targeted (or has been for a long time). He made lots of enemies and I’m sure it wasnt’ hard to find someone willing to put a tail on his accounts for some reason or another.

Another article showed he tried to deduct $48K in “non-food entertainment” on his Schedule C in 2006. I didn’t even know there was such a category on schedule C!

[Deal Hunter]

Yeah, it’s common practice in business to move money on a regualar bases. The banks report about 1 million SAR’s each month. I think Spitzer was targeted (or has been for a long time). He made lots of enemies and I’m sure it wasnt’ hard to find someone willing to put a tail on his accounts for some reason or another.

Another article showed he tried to deduct $48K in “non-food entertainment” on his Schedule C in 2006. I didn’t even know there was such a category on schedule C!

[davelj]

Typically, unless the amount of money is greater than $10,000 and involves CASH, a Suspicious Activities Report (or SAR) is not triggered. If you’re just wiring money around domestically and/or between accounts over which you have authority, it’s generally not an issue. More often than not, the big issue with SARs is with CASH or large wires to countries that are tax havens or on the government’s watch list for terrorism.

The reason that Eliot Spitzer’s transactions got flagged is because he’s a public official, so there’s a higher degree of scrutiny by banks, the FBI, etc. The investigation got started once they saw several cash transactions of less than $10,000 spaced by only a few days in some cases (suggesting “structuring,” as a way to stay under the $10,000 limit) and wires to entities that looked like shell companies, AND noted that he was a public official. Had he not been a public official, I think there’s a 99% chance nothing would have come of this. For the average person out there, the BSA is a non-issue. Just go about your business and its highly unlikely you’ll ever be bothered by it.

99.9% of SARs don’t even get reviewed. They just sit in a regulatory database somewhere.

[pencilneck]

davelj probably knows a lot more about this than I do, but I read (in another article about Spitzer) that the $10k trigger is a popularly believed myth.

[davelj]

As a bank director that sees SARs every month, I can assure you that the $10K trigger is not a myth (exception noted below). Having said that, and this may be where the confusion lies, simply because an SAR is filed does not mean that you’re “in trouble.” Most of the time you can put $10K (or whatever) in cash in the bank (or withdraw it) and never be the wiser. But, don’t kid yourself – an SAR is going to be filed unless the bank is aware, and has documentation, that your business has a large cash component and large cash deposits are part of the “normal course” in your business. (This is why parking lots, restaurants, dry cleaners, etc. are great businesses for money laundering.)

[davelj]

As a bank director that sees SARs every month, I can assure you that the $10K trigger is not a myth (exception noted below). Having said that, and this may be where the confusion lies, simply because an SAR is filed does not mean that you’re “in trouble.” Most of the time you can put $10K (or whatever) in cash in the bank (or withdraw it) and never be the wiser. But, don’t kid yourself – an SAR is going to be filed unless the bank is aware, and has documentation, that your business has a large cash component and large cash deposits are part of the “normal course” in your business. (This is why parking lots, restaurants, dry cleaners, etc. are great businesses for money laundering.)

[davelj]

As a bank director that sees SARs every month, I can assure you that the $10K trigger is not a myth (exception noted below). Having said that, and this may be where the confusion lies, simply because an SAR is filed does not mean that you’re “in trouble.” Most of the time you can put $10K (or whatever) in cash in the bank (or withdraw it) and never be the wiser. But, don’t kid yourself – an SAR is going to be filed unless the bank is aware, and has documentation, that your business has a large cash component and large cash deposits are part of the “normal course” in your business. (This is why parking lots, restaurants, dry cleaners, etc. are great businesses for money laundering.)

[davelj]

As a bank director that sees SARs every month, I can assure you that the $10K trigger is not a myth (exception noted below). Having said that, and this may be where the confusion lies, simply because an SAR is filed does not mean that you’re “in trouble.” Most of the time you can put $10K (or whatever) in cash in the bank (or withdraw it) and never be the wiser. But, don’t kid yourself – an SAR is going to be filed unless the bank is aware, and has documentation, that your business has a large cash component and large cash deposits are part of the “normal course” in your business. (This is why parking lots, restaurants, dry cleaners, etc. are great businesses for money laundering.)

[davelj]

As a bank director that sees SARs every month, I can assure you that the $10K trigger is not a myth (exception noted below). Having said that, and this may be where the confusion lies, simply because an SAR is filed does not mean that you’re “in trouble.” Most of the time you can put $10K (or whatever) in cash in the bank (or withdraw it) and never be the wiser. But, don’t kid yourself – an SAR is going to be filed unless the bank is aware, and has documentation, that your business has a large cash component and large cash deposits are part of the “normal course” in your business. (This is why parking lots, restaurants, dry cleaners, etc. are great businesses for money laundering.)

[pencilneck]

davelj probably knows a lot more about this than I do, but I read (in another article about Spitzer) that the $10k trigger is a popularly believed myth.

[pencilneck]

davelj probably knows a lot more about this than I do, but I read (in another article about Spitzer) that the $10k trigger is a popularly believed myth.

[pencilneck]

davelj probably knows a lot more about this than I do, but I read (in another article about Spitzer) that the $10k trigger is a popularly believed myth.

[pencilneck]

davelj probably knows a lot more about this than I do, but I read (in another article about Spitzer) that the $10k trigger is a popularly believed myth.

[davelj]

Typically, unless the amount of money is greater than $10,000 and involves CASH, a Suspicious Activities Report (or SAR) is not triggered. If you’re just wiring money around domestically and/or between accounts over which you have authority, it’s generally not an issue. More often than not, the big issue with SARs is with CASH or large wires to countries that are tax havens or on the government’s watch list for terrorism.

The reason that Eliot Spitzer’s transactions got flagged is because he’s a public official, so there’s a higher degree of scrutiny by banks, the FBI, etc. The investigation got started once they saw several cash transactions of less than $10,000 spaced by only a few days in some cases (suggesting “structuring,” as a way to stay under the $10,000 limit) and wires to entities that looked like shell companies, AND noted that he was a public official. Had he not been a public official, I think there’s a 99% chance nothing would have come of this. For the average person out there, the BSA is a non-issue. Just go about your business and its highly unlikely you’ll ever be bothered by it.

99.9% of SARs don’t even get reviewed. They just sit in a regulatory database somewhere.

[davelj]

Typically, unless the amount of money is greater than $10,000 and involves CASH, a Suspicious Activities Report (or SAR) is not triggered. If you’re just wiring money around domestically and/or between accounts over which you have authority, it’s generally not an issue. More often than not, the big issue with SARs is with CASH or large wires to countries that are tax havens or on the government’s watch list for terrorism.

The reason that Eliot Spitzer’s transactions got flagged is because he’s a public official, so there’s a higher degree of scrutiny by banks, the FBI, etc. The investigation got started once they saw several cash transactions of less than $10,000 spaced by only a few days in some cases (suggesting “structuring,” as a way to stay under the $10,000 limit) and wires to entities that looked like shell companies, AND noted that he was a public official. Had he not been a public official, I think there’s a 99% chance nothing would have come of this. For the average person out there, the BSA is a non-issue. Just go about your business and its highly unlikely you’ll ever be bothered by it.

99.9% of SARs don’t even get reviewed. They just sit in a regulatory database somewhere.

[davelj]

Typically, unless the amount of money is greater than $10,000 and involves CASH, a Suspicious Activities Report (or SAR) is not triggered. If you’re just wiring money around domestically and/or between accounts over which you have authority, it’s generally not an issue. More often than not, the big issue with SARs is with CASH or large wires to countries that are tax havens or on the government’s watch list for terrorism.

The reason that Eliot Spitzer’s transactions got flagged is because he’s a public official, so there’s a higher degree of scrutiny by banks, the FBI, etc. The investigation got started once they saw several cash transactions of less than $10,000 spaced by only a few days in some cases (suggesting “structuring,” as a way to stay under the $10,000 limit) and wires to entities that looked like shell companies, AND noted that he was a public official. Had he not been a public official, I think there’s a 99% chance nothing would have come of this. For the average person out there, the BSA is a non-issue. Just go about your business and its highly unlikely you’ll ever be bothered by it.

99.9% of SARs don’t even get reviewed. They just sit in a regulatory database somewhere.

[davelj]

Typically, unless the amount of money is greater than $10,000 and involves CASH, a Suspicious Activities Report (or SAR) is not triggered. If you’re just wiring money around domestically and/or between accounts over which you have authority, it’s generally not an issue. More often than not, the big issue with SARs is with CASH or large wires to countries that are tax havens or on the government’s watch list for terrorism.

The reason that Eliot Spitzer’s transactions got flagged is because he’s a public official, so there’s a higher degree of scrutiny by banks, the FBI, etc. The investigation got started once they saw several cash transactions of less than $10,000 spaced by only a few days in some cases (suggesting “structuring,” as a way to stay under the $10,000 limit) and wires to entities that looked like shell companies, AND noted that he was a public official. Had he not been a public official, I think there’s a 99% chance nothing would have come of this. For the average person out there, the BSA is a non-issue. Just go about your business and its highly unlikely you’ll ever be bothered by it.

99.9% of SARs don’t even get reviewed. They just sit in a regulatory database somewhere.

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