At “Hockey bid a factor in Beckman’s Ponzi trial”, the StarTribune analyzes the Second Superseding Indictment filed in the criminal prosecution against Jason Bo Beckman, Gerald Durand and Patrick Kiley.  This StarTribune article explains the three are accused of money laundering and other alleged crimes arising out of Trevor Cook’s securities fraud which was one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in Minnesota history.  The article too reveals that the Second Superseding Indictment differs from two earlier ones.

This was true because the Second Superseding Indictment appears to accuse Mr. Beckman of using Ponzi scheme proceeds as part of an alleged attempt to buy an ownership interest in the National Hockey League’s Minnesota Wild team.  There is however, another difference between the Second Superseding Indictment and the previous indictments in this matter.  Unlike the earlier indictments, Counts 24-25 at pp. 34-36 of the Second Superseding Indictment, basically accuse Mr. Durand of using a nominee’s bank account at Wells Fargo to secretly convert nearly $22,000 in Swiss francs to U.S. dollars.

This supposed currency conversion had conceivably caused Wells Fargo to unknowingly file Currency Transaction Reports with material omissions in them, about who participated in said conversion.  Although suspected crimes related to Currency Transaction Reports are typically charged under 31 U.S.C. §§ 5322 &/or 5324, Counts 24-25 of the Second Superseding Indictment allege that Mr. Durand concealed material facts and / or made false statements to the Federal Government in violation of 28 U.S.C. §1001.

Financial institutions like Wells Fargo file their Currency Transaction Reports for reportable transactions involving more than $10,000 dollars.  At these Currency Transaction Reports, the financial institutions try to identify the true participants of reportable transactions.  31 U.S.C. § 5313 (requiring disclosure of “a participant acting for another”); 31 CFR Chapter X § 1010.312.  This identification requirement has been in place at least since Department of the Treasury Ruling FIN-1989-R005:

 (Click On The Image To Read The Entire Ruling)

 

Ruling FIN-1989-R005: Courtesy of FinCEN

Copyright 2012 Fred L. Abrams