I was so happy to see they replaced my picture!

This irritated me to no end; especially the comment "If banks are concerned about retribution, Reid said, they shouldn't provide banking services to those customers." I shot off e-mails to the Senate Banking Committee, Senators Joe Lieberman & Susan Collins, Representatives Spencer Bachus, Melvin Watt, Carolyn Maloney, Bennie Thompson, Loretta Sanchez, Jane Harman, Christopher Carney & several others. You can see a list of the various committee members at either http://www.senate.gov or http://www.house.gov.

Next on my list...FinCEN & the IRS.

Sorry, I know it looks like I'm being obsessive, but it's really just a hobby. Here is another one.

McBurney reviewed the companies’ accounts at First Citizens Bank in South Carolina. He found the wire transfers to the offshore accounts and multiple transfers to the Bahamas since the beginning of May, the affidavit says. The transfers show one check dated in April from an investor for more than $50,000. However, most of the deposits were in the form of cashier’s checks or money orders, McBurney wrote.

The companies switched banks in March and April after Bank of America became leery and filed a suspicious activity report on the accounts. Now with First Citizens, the accounts were opened under Daniel Development Group, another entity controlled by Pough, according to McBurney’s affidavit.

First Citizens records showed more than $11 million had been transferred from the Bank of America accounts.

Let's see, one bank has been outed for filing a SAR and another, by implication, for not filing a SAR. The affiant, McBurney, is an "enforcement specialist" with the SC OAG.

So, I wonder where that leaves the following statement made by FinCEN's Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group on unauthorized disclosure of information in 2004. You would think that there would be some efforts to stem this tide.

And here I thought that the statement drew a pretty clear line in the sand.

"The unauthorized disclosure of Suspicious Activity Reports is not only a violation of federal criminal law, but it undermines the very purpose for which the suspicious activity reporting system was created - the protection of our financial system through the prevention, detection, and prosecution of financial crimes and terrorist financing. The unauthorized disclosure of Suspicious Activity Reports can compromise the national security of the United States as well as threaten the safety and security of those institutions and individuals who file such reports. The Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group is committed to continuing to work with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the federal functional regulatory agencies, law enforcement, and the financial services industry to ensure that the information contained in Suspicious Activity Reports is safeguarded, and that anyone who makes an intentional, unauthorized disclosure of a Suspicious Activity Report is brought to justice, whether that person is inside or outside of the Government."

Gee, wouldn't it be nice of those banks' state banking associations filed suit against the Federal Government for violation of the SAR confidentiality/safe harbor statutes...

not gonna hold my breath on that happening

In November 2003, Riggs filed a "suspicious activity report" with the Treasury Department disclosing that over a four-month period, $17.4 million from the Saudi Defense account had been disbursed to a single individual in Saudi Arabia.

Yes, I know this is a regurgitation of of an old story, but I thought it was worth linking because it was this first acknowledged SAR dislcosure by law enforcement personnel and it generated the FinCEN announcement (quoted twice earlier in this thread) saying similar disclosures would not be tolerated in the future..

In 2004 the Wall Street Journal had a story that a SAR was filed on Bob Dole because he withdraws large cash amounts.

Ken, do you know whether it was the bank or government that released that story?

Is it possible for someone to send me a copy of the article on Moneylaundering.com that talks about the IRS sending those letters? I have a Compliance Meeting tomorrorw with other local banks and I want to talk about this. If you PM me I'll give you my fax or email (if it's not already in my profile). Also, does anyone have a copy of one of these letters yet? I'm still trying to find one.
Thanks!!

The implication was that it was law enforcement who released the SAR information in the Riggs case. Ironically, the reporter who wrote the story spoke at the next ABA MLES and seemed rather surprised that some audience members were hostile.