"Structuring" means breaking transactions larger than $10,000 into smaller increments by making multiple deposits or withdrawals or by buying cashiers' checks, money orders, or other monetary instruments for the express purpose of evading the reporting requirements.
An example of structuring would be a business with cash of $17,000 to deposit, breaking it into two deposits, one of $9,000 and the other of $8,000, with specific intent to evade the bank's currency transaction reporting requirement.
Definition of Cash Structuring
Cash structuring is the act of breaking up what would otherwise be a single significant financial transaction into a series of smaller transactions to avoid scrutiny by regulators and law enforcement. Cash structuring is also known as “smurfing” in the industry.
In 1986, Congress criminalized currency structuring in the Money Laundering Control Act. “Structuring” is defined as conducting one or more transactions in currency, in any amount, at one or more financial institutions, on one or more days, in any manner, for the purpose of evading reporting requirements.
Structuring is breaking transactions into different sums in order to avoid the regulations and AML/CTF transaction reporting requirements. Many money launderers rely on this placement approach since it allows them to make several deposits without triggering the cash reporting requirements.
For example, if someone has $50,000 in cash to deposit in their bank, should they choose to deposit it through five deposits of $9,999 and one deposit of $5, with the intent to avoid the reporting requirement, they have committed the crime of structuring.
Structuring is a white-collar crime that involves moving large sums of money secretly by breaking them down into smaller amounts. Also known as “smurfing,” it describes the act of dividing illicit proceeds into small sums and placing them in multiple separate bank accounts to avoid attracting attention.
In order to show that a person is guilty of structuring to avoid having a bank file a Currency Transaction Report (CTR) with the IRS, the government must prove three elements: (1) the defendant (or a claimant in a civil forfeiture case) must have engaged in acts of structuring cash desposits or withdrawals at a ...
A structured transaction is a series of transactions broken up from a larger sum in order to avoid reporting requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), which requires financial institutions to report all transactions of $10,000 or more.
In an effort to curb money laundering, tax evasion, and terrorism, federal law prohibits the practice of breaking up large deposits into multiple, smaller deposits in order to circumvent reporting requirements, an offense which is called “structuring” or “smurfing.” Unfortunately, there have been multiple cases in ...
Federal law requires a person to report cash transactions of more than $10,000 by filing IRS Form 8300PDF, Report of Cash Payments Over $10,000 Received in a Trade or Business.
Funds transfer activity is unexplained, repetitive, or shows unusual patterns. Payments or receipts with no apparent links to legitimate contracts, goods, or services are received. Funds transfers are sent or received from the same person to or from different accounts.
If you deposit more than $10,000 cash in your bank account, your bank has to report the deposit to the government. The guidelines for large cash transactions for banks and financial institutions are set by the Bank Secrecy Act, also known as the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act.
Structuring (also known as “smurfing”) is often related to money laundering activities. But structuring isn't limited to cash deposits; it captures cash withdrawals as well. The Department of the Treasury offer the following purposefully broad definition (31 CFR § 1010.100):
Structuring may be done in the context of money laundering, fraud, and other financial crimes. Legal restrictions on structuring are concerned with limiting the size of domestic transactions for individuals.
Under federal rules, banks and financial institutions are required to file an SAR any time they flag a transaction of at least $5,000 as suspicious.
transactions that don't match the customer profile. high volumes of transactions being made in a short period of time. depositing large amounts of cash into company accounts. depositing multiple cheques into one bank account.
The Bank Secrecy Act is officially called the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act, started in 1970. It states that banks must report any deposits (and withdrawals, for that matter) that they receive over $10,000 to the Internal Revenue Service.
Depositing a big amount of cash that is $10,000 or more means your bank or credit union will report it to the federal government. The $10,000 threshold was created as part of the Bank Secrecy Act, passed by Congress in 1970, and adjusted with the Patriot Act in 2002.
Under the Bank Secrecy Act, banks and other financial institutions must report cash deposits greater than $10,000. But since many criminals are aware of that requirement, banks also are supposed to report any suspicious transactions, including deposit patterns below $10,000.
It is during the placement stage that money launderers are the most vulnerable to being caught. This is due to the fact that placing large amounts of money (cash) into the legitimate financial system may raise suspicions of officials.
Smurfing takes place in three stages: placement, layering, and integration. In the placement stage, the criminal is relieved of guarding large amounts of illegally obtained cash by placing it into the financial system.
The reason why criminals and terrorist groups need to launder their funds is to legitimise them, before introducing them into the financial system as legal currency. Money laundering and drugs have historically had a close link.
So if you have $100,000 to deposit in your bank account, and you deliberately choose to deposit that money in increments of $9,999 so your bank won't automatically notify the federal government, you're guilty of structuring. It's a felony punishable by a fine and/or up to five years in prison.